•** 


Jtx  arms  J|  opit  ari) 


University  of  California  •  Berkeley 

From  the  Library 

of 
DAPHNE  MUSE 


MEMORIAL   TO   CRISPUS   ATTTJCKS. 


MEMORIAL 


CRISPUS     ATTUCKS,     SAMUEL    MAVERICK 
JAMES   CALDWELL,   SAMUEL  GRAY 
AND    PATRICK   CARR 


K  ROM     TH  B 


CITY    OF    BOSTON 


[The  Boston  Massacre,  March  5, 1770,  may  be  regarded  as  the  first  act  in  the  drama  of  the  American  Revolution. 
'•  From  tliut  moment,"  said  Daniel  Webster,  "  we  may  date  the  severance  of  the  British  Empire."  The  presence  of  the 
British  soldiers  in  King  street  excited  the  patriotic  indignation  of  the  people.  .  .  ..  Led  by  Crispin  Attacks,  the 
mulatto  slave,  and  shouting,  "The  way  to  get  rid  of  these  soldiers  is  to  attack  the  main  guard ;  strike  at  the  root !  this 
ii  the  nest!"  with  more  valor  than  discretion  they  rushed  to  King  street,  and  were  fired  upon  by  Captain  Preston's 
company.  Crispus  Attucks  was  the  first  to  fall ;  he  and  Samuel  Gray  and  James  Caldwell  were  killed  on  the  spot. 
Samuel  Maverick  and  Patrick  Carr  were  mortally  wounded.  —  Historical  Research,  bf  George  Livermore.  —  Meat.  Hist. 


B  O  STO  N 

PRINTED  BY  ORDER  OF  THE  CITY  COUNCIL 

i  889 


CITY   OF   BOSTON. 


IN  BOARD  OF  ALDERMEN,  November  26,  1888. 

Ordered,  That  the  Clerk  of  Committees  be  authorized  to  prepare  for  pub 
lication,  under  the  direction  of  the  Committee  on  Printing,  an  account  of  the 
proceedings  at  the  dedication  of  the  Crispus  Attucks  Monument,  and  that  the 
said  Committee  have  the  volume  printed  as  a  city  publication,  the  expense 
incurred  thereby  to  be  charged  to  the  appropriation  for  printing. 
Passed. 

Sent   down   for   concurrence. 
December   13,   came  up   concurred. 
Approved    by  the    Mayor    December    17,    1888. 
A   true   copy. 
Attest : 

JOHN   T.   PRIEST, 

Assistant    City    Clerk. 


PAGE 

ACTION  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH  OK  MASSACHUSETTS    .....  11 

ACTION  OF  THE  CITY  OF  BOSTON    ......  19 

DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  MONUMENT    .......  27 

UNVEILING  THE  MONUMENT  ON  BOSTON  COMMON 31 

Prayer  by  Rev.  Eli  Smith 33 

Remarks  of  William  H.  Dupree     .....  36 

Remarks  of  Governor  Oliver  Ames        .  *       .         .         .                  .  •  33 

Remarks  of  Mayor  Hugh  O'Brien           .......  39 

EXERCISES  AT  FANEUIL  HALL 43 

Prayer  by  Rev.  Albert  H.  Plumb 43 

Remarks  of  Governor  Oliver  Ames        ......  46 

Remarks  of  Mayor  Hugh  O'Brien 46 

Poem  by  John  Boyle  O'Reilly 51 

Address  by  Mr.  John  Fiske 59 

LETTERS   •••.........  93 

Frederick  Douglass        ........  93 

Dr.  Henry  I.  Bowditch 95 

Rev.  Phillips  Brooks,  D.D 9G 

Rev.  David  Gregg          ..........  96 

Hon.  John  M.  Langston 96 


ACTION   OF   THE   COMMONWEALTH   OF 
MASSACHUSETTS. 


ACTION  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH  OF 
MASSACHUSETTS. 


IN  the  spring  of  1887  the  following  petition  was  presented  to 
the  Legislature  :  — 

To  the  Honorable  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Com 
monwealth  of  Massachusetts,  in  General  Court  assembled:  — 

The  undersigned  petitioners,  citizens  of  the  Commonwealth  of 
Massachusetts,  respectfully  represent 

That  in  the  Granary  Burial  Ground,  in  Boston,  rest  the  remains  of 
Crispus  Attucks,  Samuel  Gray,  Jonas  Caldwell,  and  Samuel  Maverick, 
who,  together  with  Patrick  Carr,  led  by  Crispus  Attucks,  were  the 
first  Martyrs  in  the  cause  of  American  Liberty,  having  been  shot  by 
the  British  soldiers  on  the  night  of  the  fifth  of  March,  A.D.  1770, 
known  as  the  Boston  Massacre.  Their  names  appear  on  the  records 
and  history  of  that  time,  but  no  stone  marks  their  burial-place. 

We,  therefore,  respectfully  request  that  a  suitable  monument  may 
be  erected  to  the  memory  of  these  early  patriots  of  the  Revolution. 

And,  as  in  duty  bound,  will  ever  pray,  etc. 


LEWIS  HAYDEN, 
A.  H.  GRIMKE, 
HENRY  J.  GARDNER, 
N.  P.  BANKS, 
WM.  CLAFLIN, 
WM.  B.  WASHBURN, 
WILLIAM  GASTON, 
ALEXANDER  H.  RICE, 
JOHN  D.  LONG, 
BENJAMIN  F.  BUTLER, 
GEORGE  D.  ROBINSON, 
HENRY  B.  PEIRCE, 
HENRY  CABOT  LODGE, 
LEOPOLD  MORSE, 
JOHN  E.  RUSSELL, 
PATRICK  A.  COLLINS. 

And  many 


JOHN  F.  ANDREW, 
A.  W.  BEARD, 
HUGH  O'BRIEN, 
WM.  H.  DUPREE, 
JOHN  BOYLE  O'REILLY, 
BUTLER  R.  WILSON, 
E.  B.  HASKELL, 
JOHN  Q.  ADAMS, 
CHARLES  R.  LADD, 
HENRY  J.  WELLS, 
CHARLES  R.  CODMAN, 
GEORGE  W.  LOWTHER, 
ABNER  C.  GOODELL,  JR., 
DR.  HENRY  I.  BOWDITCH, 
REV.    PHILLIPS     BROOKS, 

D.D., 
other  well-known  citizens 


W.  W.  BLACKMAR, 
MARTIN  BRIMMER, 
CARROLL  D.  WRIGHT, 
F.  A.  WALKER, 
R.  P.  HALLOWELL, 
M.  P.  KENNARD, 
A.  E.  PILLSBURY, 
HARRIS  C.  HARTWELL, 
ROLAND  WORTHINGTON, 
CHARLES  L.  MITCHELL, 

C.  B.  TlLLINGHAST, 

WILLIAM  H.  JARVIS, 
REV.  J.  T.  JENIFER,  D.D. 
THOMAS  P.  TAYLOR, 
JOHN  H.  LEWIS, 
JOHN  J.  SMITH, 
of  the  State. 


12  THE     ATTUCKS     MEMORIAL. 

As  a  result  thereof  the  following  resolve  was  adopted  without 
opposition  in  either  house,  and  was  promptly  signed  by  His 
Excellency,  Gov.  OLIVER  AMES  :  — 

[CHAPTER    53.] 

dTommontoealtfj  of 


In  the  Year  One  Thousand  Eight  Hundred  and  Eighty-Seven. 

EESOLVE     PROVIDING    FOR    THE   ERECTION    OF    A    MEMORIAL   TO 
CRISPUS    ATTUCKS,    SAMUEL     GRAY,     JONAS     CALDWELL, 
SAMUEL    MAVERICK,    AND    PATRICK    CARR. 

Resolved,  That  the  Governor  and  Council  be  and  they  are  hereby 
authorized  and  requested  to  cause  to  be  erected  in  some  public 
place  in  the  city  of  Boston  a  suitable  memorial  or  monument  to 
the  memory  of  Crispus  Attucks,  Samuel  Gray,  Jonas  Caldwell, 
Samuel  Maverick,  and  Patrick  Carr,  who  were  killed  by  British 
soldiers  in  the  streets  of  Boston,  on  the  fifth  day  of  March,  in 
the  year  seventeen  hundred  and  seventy,  upon  the  occasion  known 
as  the  "  Boston  Massacre  ;  "  also  to  cause  suitable  headstones  to 
be  placed  at  the  graves  of  the  said  persons,  where  their  locations 
can  be  ascertained.  The  amount  to  be  expended  under  this  re 
solve  shall  not  exceed  the  sum  of  ten  thousand  dollars. 


HOUSE  OF   REPRESENTATIVES,    May   6,   1887.     Passed. 

CHAS.    J.    NOTES,  Speaker. 


IN   SENATE,    May  11,    1887.     Passed. 

HALSEY   J.    BOARDMAN,  President. 


MAY    17,    1887.      Approved. 

OLIVER    AMES. 

SECRETARY'S   DBPARTMENT,  BOSTON,    Nov.    28,   1888. 
A   true   copy. 

Witness    the    Seal   of   the    Commonwealth. 

HENRY   B.    PEIRCE, 
of  the    Commonwealth. 


ACTIOX    OF    THE     COMMOXWEALTH.  13 

[CHAPTER    16-1 

Commonfoealtfj    of 


In  ihe  Year  One  Thousand  Eight  Hundred  and  Eighty-Eight. 

RESOLVE    CONCERNING    THE    ERECTION    OF     A    MEMORIAL    TO 
CRISPUS    ATTUCKS    AND    OTHERS. 

Resolved,  That  Chapter  fifty-three  of  the  Resolves  of  the  year 
eighteen  hundred  and  eighty-seven  be  and  hereby  is  amended  by 
striking  out  the  word  "  Jonas,"  and  inserting  in  place  thereof  the 
word  "  James,"  so  that  it  shall  read  James  Caldwell  instead  of 
Jonas  Caldwell. 


HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  Feb.   17,    1888.     Passed. 

CHAS.    J.   NOTES,  Speaker. 


IN  SENATE,  Feb.    20,    1888.     Passed. 

HALSEY    J.    BOARDMAN,  President. 

FEB.    21,  1888.     Approved. 

OLIVER    AMES. 


SECRETARY'S    DEPARTMENT,    BOSTON,    Nov.    28,    1888. 
A   true   copy. 

Witness   the   Seal   of    the   Commonwealth. 

HENRY    B.    PEIRCE, 
Secretary  of  the   Commonwealth. 

From  a  number  of  designs  submitted,  the  Governor 
and  Council  selected  that  one  made  by  Mr.  EGBERT  KRAUS, 
and  the  contract  was  awarded  to  him  by  the  following 

•  o 

order :  — 


14  THE    ATTUCKS    MEMORIAL. 

COMMONWEALTH   OF   MASSACHUSETTS, 
COUNCIL   CHAMBER,    BOSTON,    July   27,    1888. 

Ordered,  That  the  design  submitted  by  Robert  Kraus,  for  a 
memorial  to  be  erected  to  the  memory  of  Crispus  Attucks,  Samuel 
Gray,  Jonas  Caldwell,  Samuel  Maverick,  and  Patrick  Carr,  as  pro 
vided  in  Resolve,  Chapter  53,  of  1887,  be  approved;  provided,  that 
there  shall  be  no  outlay  on  the  part  of  the  Commonwealth  until 
a  contract  shall  have  been  duly  executed,  insuring  the  completion 
of  the  work  contemplated  by  said  resolve,  including  suitable  head 
stones,  at  an  expense  not  exceeding  ten  thousand  dollars. 

Adopted. 

HENRY   B.    PEIRCE,    Secretary. 


SECRETARY'S   DEPARTMENT,    BOSTON,    Nov.    28,    1 888. 

A   true    copy. 

HENRY   B.    PEIRCE, 

Secretary   of  the   Commonwealth. 

On  the  fifth  day  of  September,  His  Excellency  the  Gov 
ernor  sent  the  following  letter  to  a  number  of  public-spirited 
gentlemen :  — 

COMMONWEALTH   OF   MASSACHUSETTS, 

EXECUTIVE   DEPARTMENT. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  At  some  date  in  the  near  future,  which  is  to  be 
fixed,  the  monument  in  commemoration  of  Crispus  Attucks  and 
others,  who  were  victims  of  the  Boston  Massacre,  is  to  be  placed 
by  the  Commonwealth  on  Boston  Common.  Under  the  terms  of 
the  resolve  providing  for  the  erection  of  this  memorial,  there  is 
no  provision  for  anything  beyond  the  cost  of  its  being  con 
structed. 

It  is  thought  by  many  that  its  unveiling  should  be  marked  by 
some  demonstration ;  and  in  order  that  this  may  take  place,  the 
public  must  be  so  interested  in  the  matter  as  to  provide  for  it 
sufficient  funds. 


ACTION     OF     THE     COMMONWEALTH.  15 

I  take  the  liberty  of  suggesting  to  you  that  you  confer  a 
favor  upon  all  the  people  of  the  Commonwealth  if  you  will 
become  one  of  a  voluntary  committee,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to 
arrange  for  an  appropriate  dedication  of  the  monument,  such 
arrangement  to  include  the  collection  and  disbursement  of  the 
money  which  may  be  needed  to  carry  out  the  plan  that  may  be 
determined  upon  by  those  who  will  form  the  committee. 

I   am   yours    very   respectfully, 

OLIVER    AMES, 

Governor. 

In  response  to  the  above  letter,  the  following  gentlemen  met 
at  the  State  House,  and  organized  a  committee  to  make 
arrangements  for  the  unveiling  and  dedication  of  the  monu 
ment  :  — 

LEWIS   HAYDEN,  CHAS.    L.    MITCHELL, 
REV.  CHAS.  L.  WOODWORTH,  D.D.,     JOHN   H.    LEWIS, 

WILLIAM   O.    ARMSTRONG,  D.    TOY, 

JOHN   BOYLE   O'REILLY,  A.    H.    GRIMKE, 

JOHN   J.    SMITH,  JOHN    J.    TEEVENS, 

JOHN   A.    DALY,  WM.    POWER  WILSON, 

J.    C.    CHAPPELLE,  N.    G.    GASKINS, 

JOHN   PATTEN,  DR.    HENRY   I.    BOWDITCH, 

WM.    H.    DUPREE,  BUTLER   R.    WILSON, 
E.    M.    CHAMBERLIN. 

Mr.  William  II.  Dupree  was  made  chairman,  and  Butler 
R.  Wilson  and  Edwin  M.  Chamberlin  were  made  secretaries. 

The  committee  invited  Mr.  John  Fiske,  of  Cambridge,  to 
deliver  the  historical  address,  and  Mr.  John  Boyle  O'Reilly 
to  write  a  poem.  Both  invitations  were  accepted,  and  the 
14th  of  November  was  selected  as  the  day  upon  which  the 
services  were  to  be  held. 


16  THE     ATTUCKS     MEMORIAL. 

Faneuil  Hall  was  secured,  and  for  the  better  accommoda 
tion  of  the  military  and  civic  organizations  invited  to  take 
part  in  a  parade  preceding  the  exercises,  a  thousand  seats 
were  placed  on  the  floor  of  the  hall,  and  the  gallery  was 
reserved  for  special  guests  holding  tickets. 

Among  those  invited  by  the  committee  on  behalf  of  the 
Commonwealth  were  the  following :  His  Excellency  the  Gov 
ernor,  the  Executive  Council,  the  Senators  and  Representa 
tives  of  Massachusetts  in  Congress,  United  States  civil 
officers  in  Boston,  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  and  Superior 
Courts,  the  heads  of  State  Departments,  the  members  of 
the  General  Court,  the  Mayor  of  Boston,  the  Board  of 
Aldermen,  the  senior  member  from  each  ward  of  the  Com 
mon  Council,  and  representatives  of  the  Press. 


ACTION   OF   THE   CITY   GOVERNMENT. 


ACTION  OF  THE  CITY  GOVEENMENT. 


In  his  inaugural  address,  His  Honor  Mayor  O'Brien  re 
ferred  to  the  fact  that  the  Crispus  Attucks  Monument,  for 
which  the  State  had  appropriated  the  sum  of  ten  thousand 
dollars,  was  nearly  completed,  and  he  recommended  that  a 
location  be  provided  for  the  monument  on  Boston  Common, 
in  accordance  with  the  desire  of  the  Governor  and  Committee 
in  charge.  The  matter  was  referred  to  the  Joint  Standing 
Committee  on  Common  and  Public  Grounds.  Subsequently, 
on  the  28th  of  August,  a  message  on  the  subject  was  re 
ceived  by  the  Board  of  Aldermen  from  His  Honor  the 
Mayor,  covering  a  communication  from  His  Excellency  Gov 
ernor  Ames,  as  follows  :  — 

CITY  OF  BOSTON, 
EXECUTIVE   DEPARTMENT,    Aug.    20,    1888. 

To   the   Honorable   the    City    Council:  — 

GENTLEMEN,  —  The  monument  to  Crispus  Attucks  will  be  com 
pleted  in  about  six  weeks.  The  City  Council  last  year  appropri 
ated  two  thousand  dollars  for  a  foundation  from  the  Phillips  fund. 
It  will  be  necessary  to  commence  work  immediately  on  the  foun 
dation,  but  the  location  of  the  monument  has  not  yet  been  fixed 
by  the  City  Council. 

His  Excellency  Governor  Ames,  whose  communication  is  here 
with  submitted,  has  made  a  selection  near  the  West-street  gate  of 
the  Common,  and  I  hope  you  will  give  it  your  favorable  consid 
eration. 

Respectfully   submitted, 

HUGH   O'BRIEN, 

Mayor. 


20  THE     ATTUCKS     MEMORIAL. 

COMMONWEALTH   OF   MASSACHUSETTS. 
EXECUTIVE   DEPARTMENT,    BOSTON,    Nov.    2,    1887. 
His   Honor  MAYOR   HUGH   O'BRIEN  :  — 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  your  favor  of  the  1st  inst.,  in  which  you 
say  that  it  appears  to  you  that  I  "have  the  sole  right  to  place 
the  Attucks  Monument." 

If  such  be  the  case,  I  would  select  for  the  position  on  which 
to  place  that  memorial  a  spot  on  the  Cominpn,  just  south  of  the 
West-street  gate,  between  the  Tremont-street  mall  and  the  mall 
from  West  street  to  Park  square,  nearly  on  a  line  with  the  store 
on  the  east  side  of  Tremont  street  which  is  occupied  by  Messrs. 
Hallet  &  Cumston. 

Thanking  you  heartily  for  the  privilege  which  you  have  in  this 
matter  accorded  me, 

I  am   yours    sincerely, 

OLIVER   AMES, 

Governor. 

These  communications  were  in  like  manner  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  Common  and  Public  Grounds. 

As  it  was  discovered  that  there  were  serious  objections  to 
locating  the  monument  upon  the  site  selected,  from  the  fact 
that  the  foundation  would  come  in  contact  with  the  water- 
pipes  laid  through  the  Common,  the  matter  was  brought  to 
the  Governor's  attention,  and  a  new  site  was  selected  at  a 
point  southerly  of  that  first  selected,  and  information  to  that 
effect  was  communicated  to  the  City  Council  on  October  1, 
by  the  following  messages  from  His  Honor  the  Mayor, 
namely :  — 

CITY  OF  BOSTON, 

EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,    Oct.  1,  1888. 
To   the   Honorable   the    City   Council:  — 

GENTLEMEN,  —  I  enclose  herewith  a  communication  from  His  Ex 
cellency  the  Governor  concerning  the  site  for  the  monument  to 


ACTION    OP     THE     CITY    GOVERNMENT.  21 

Crispus  Attucks.  It  will  be  observed  by  the  plan  which  accom 
panies  the  communication  that  the  Governor  has  chosen  a  spot 
for  the  site  close  by  the  one  formerly  selected  by  him.  As  the 
work  is  far  advanced,  and  the  city  is  ready  to  put  in  the  foun 
dation,  so  that  the  dedication  of  the  monument  can  take  place  the 
present  month,  it  is  very  desirable  that  the  City  Council  promptly 
ratify  the  action  taken  by  the  Governor. 

Yours   respectfully, 

HUGH  O'BRIEN, 

Mayor. 

COMMONWEALTH  OF  MASSACHUSETTS, 
EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,  BOSTON,  Sept.  27,  1888. 
DEAR  MR.  MAYOR,  —  Because  of  the  representation  to  me  that  to 
place  the  Attucks  Monument  on  the  site  first  selected  by  me 
would  be  attended  by  certain  difficulties  which  will  not  be  insur 
mountable,  but  will  be  inconvenient,  I  have  this  day  visited  the 
Common,  and  have  decided  that  the  monument  shall  be  placed 
in  the  same  plot  of  land,  but  southerly  of  the  place  first  chosen, 
very  nearly  at  the  point  which  corresponds  to  that  marked  with 
the  figures  "  85  "  on  the  enclosed  plan,  and  opposite  the  store  on 
Tremont  street  occupied  by  the  "White  Sewing  Machine  Company. 

I   am   yours    sincerely, 

OLIVER  AMES. 
HON.    HUGH   O'BRIEN,   Mayor  of  Boston. 

The  message  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Common 
and  Public  Grounds. 

In  connection  with  the  above,  Alderman  Wilson  offered 
the  following :  — 

Ordered,  That  His  Honor  the  Mayor  be  authorized  to  expend 
in  behalf  of  the  city  a  sum  not  exceeding  one  thousand  dollars 
in  connection  with  the  arrangements  for  dedicating  the  Crispus 
Attucks  Monument  on  Boston  Common ;  said  sum  to  be  charged 
to  the  appropriation  for  incidentals. 


22  THE    ATTUCKS    MEMORIAL. 

The  order  was  passed  by  both  branches  of  the  City  Coun 
cil,  and  approved  by  the  Mayor  October  13. 

On  the  18th  of  October  a  report  was  received  in  the 
Board  of  Aldermen  from  the  Committee  on  Common  and 
Public  Grounds,  recommending  the  passage  of  the  following 
order,  namely  :  — 

Ordered,  That  the  site  selected  by  His  Excellency  the  Governor 
for  the  location  of  the  Crispus  Attacks  Monument  on  Boston 
Common  be  hereby  approved. 

Report  accepted,  order  passed  under  a  suspension  of  the  rule. 
Sent  down. 

The  order  was  passed  by  the  Common  Council  in  con 
currence,  and  approved  by  the  Mayor  October  13. 

On  the  19th  of  November  the  following  message  was 
received  in  the  Board  of  Aldermen  from  His  Honor  the 
Mayor  in  relation  to  publishing  a  memorial  volume,  con 
taining  an  account  of  the  proceedings  at  the  dedication  of 
the  monument,  namely  :  — 

CITY   OF   BOSTON, 
EXECUTIVE   DEPARTMENT,   Nov.    19,    1888. 

To   the  Honorable   the   City   Council :  — 

GENTLEMEN,  —  The  dedication  of  the  monument  to  Crispus 
Attucks,  in  which  the  State  and  the  city  participated,  was  quite 
a  memorable  event  in  the  history  of  Boston.  I  therefore  recom 
mend  that  a  memorial  volume  be  printed,  containing  the  addresses 
and  proceedings  on  that  occasion. 

Respectfully   submitted, 

HUGH    O'BRIEN, 
Mayor. 


ACTIOX     OF     THE     CITY    GOVERNMENT.  23 

The  message  was  referred  to  the  Joint  Standing  Com 
mittee  on  Printing,  and  on  the  26th  of  November  the 
committee  reported  the  order,  which  was  adopted,  and 
which  prefaces  this  volume. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  MONUMENT. 


DESCEIPTION  OP  THE  MONUMENT. 


The  Monument  is  of  Concord  granite,  twenty-five  feet 
six  inches  high,  and  measures  ten  feet  six  inches  at  the  base. 
The  pedestal,  which  is  round,  except  where  a  rectangular 
projection  is  made  to  support  the  statue  and  receive  the 
relief,  is  eight  feet  two  inches  high.  The  bas-relief  on  the 
face  of  the  pedestal  represents  the  Boston  Massacre  in 
King  street.  In  the  foreground  lies  Crispus  Attucks,  the 
first  victim  of  British  bullets ;  the  centre  of  the  scene  is 
the  old  State  House,  behind  which  may  be  seen  the  steeple 
of  the  old  brick  or  First  church,  which  stood  on  Cornhill, 
now  Washington  street.  In  the  upper  left-hand  corner  is 
the  following  inscription :  "  From  that  Moment  we  may 
date  the  Severance  of  the  British  Empire.  Daniel  Web 
ster  ; "  and  in  the  upper  right-hand  corner,  "  On  that  Night 
the  Foundation  of  American  Independence  was  laid.  John 
Adams."  Under  the  relief  on  the  base  appears  the  date, 
"  March  5,  1770."  Above  the  bas-relief  stands  "  Free 
America."  With  her  left  hand  she  clasps  a  flag  about  to 
be  unfurled,  while  she  holds  aloft  in  her  'right  hand  the 
broken  chain  of  oppression,  and  crushes  beneath  her 
right  foot  the  royal  crown,  which,  twisted  and  torn,  is  fall 
ing  off  the  plinth.  At  her  left  side,  clinging  to  the  edge 
of  the  plinth,  is  an  eagle.  Its  wings  are  raised,  its  beak 
is  open,  and  it  has  apparently  just  lit.  Its  pose  is  in 
unison  with  the  fiery  spirit  of  its  mistress,  shown  in  the 
serious,  determined,  and  heroic  gaze  of  her  upturned  face. 


28  THE     ATTUCKS     MEMORIAL. 

The  statue  is  seven  feet  high,  and  weighs  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  ninety  pounds.  Beneath  the  apex  of 
the  shaft,  cut  into  the  surface,  are  thirteen  stars,  which  sug 
gest  the  original  thirteen  States  of  the  Union.  Below  the 
stars  in  raised  letters  appear  the  names  of  Crispus  Attucks, 
Samuel  Gray,  James  Caldwell,  Samuel  Maverick,  and 
Patrick  Carr,  the  five  victims  of  the  massacre. 


UNVEILING   THE   MONUMENT   ON   BOSTON 

COMMON. 


UNVEILING  THE   MONUMENT  ON  BOSTON 
COMMON, 


The  day  set  apart  for  the  unveiling  and  dedication  of 
the  monument  was  a  most  delightful  one.  Better  weather 
could  not  have  been  chosen. 

Promptly  at  11  o'clock  A.M.  the  procession  of  military 
and  civic  organizations  moved  from  the  corner  of  Beacon 
and  Charles  streets  to  the  State  House,  where  the  Governor 
and  other  guests  were  received  in  escort.  It  then  moved 
down  Beacon  and  School  streets  to  the  City  Hall,  where 
the  Mayor  and  representatives  of  the  City  Government 
were  received.  Thence  it  marched  through  School,  Wash 
ington,  and  Boylston  streets,  and  entered  the  Common  at 
the  Park-square  entrance,  and  then  proceeded  through  the 
Boylston  and  Tremont  street  malls  to  the  site  of  the  monu 
ment  —  which  stands  in  the  centre  of  a  triangular  lot  facing 
Tremont  street  —  in  the  following  order :  — 

Detachment   of   Mounted   Police. 

CHIEF     MARSHAL. 

Major   Frederick   B.    Bogan. 

CHIEF     OF     STAFF. 

Capt.    C.   F.    A.    Francis. 

AIDS. 

George    Sparrow,  Joseph   Lee, 

Robert   J.    Taylor,  Nelson   T.    Wentworth, 


32  THE     ATTUCKS     MEMORIAL. 

Lieut.    W.    H.    McCafferty,  Daniel   Hayes, 

Dr.    T.   O'Donnell,  W.   J.   Williams, 

Charles   Johnson,  Charles   E.    Harris. 

Germania   Band,    32   men. 

Company   L,    6th   Regiment,    M.V.M., 

Capt.    George    VV.    Brady,    commander,    55    men, 

with   staff,    consisting   of 
Adjutant   W.    S.    Butler, 
Quartermaster   Summers, 
Paymaster   George   "W.    Lowther, 
Lieutenant   Bell. 
Second    Separate   Company  Rhode   Island   Militia, 

Capt.  J.    E.    Fraser,    commander,    30   men. 
First   Separate   Company   Rhode   Island   Militia, 

Capt.    R.    "W.    Blunt,   commander,    30   men. 

Governor    Ames,    Hon.    George    F.    Hoar,    Mr.    John     Fiske,    Mr. 
John   Boyle    O'Reilly,    Rev.    Andrew   Chamberlain,    Rev.    Albert 
H.    Plumb,  D.D.,    Rev.    Eli   Smith,    the    Executive    Council 
and   heads   of   State   Departments,   members   of    Senate 
and     House     of     Representatives,    Mayor     O'Brien 
and    members     of     Board     of     Aldermen     and 
Common    Council,    the    Citizens'    Commit 
tee,  New  York   and   Newport   Fishing 
Club,  represented   by  Commodore 
James  W.   Mars,  Dr.  P.   W. 
Ray,    and  V.    C.    Mur 
ray,    and    other    in 
vited    guests    in 

carriages. 

Allen's   Fife    and   Drum   Corps. 

Robert   A.    Bell   Post   134,    G.A.R., 

Capt.    I.    S.    Mullen,    commander,    48   men. 

Shaw   Guard   Veteran   Association, 
Major  J.    Wesley   Furlong,    commander,    40   men. 

W.    H.    Carney   Camp,  S.V., 
Capt.    John   D.    Powell,    commander,    40   men, 


UNVEILING    THE     MOXUMEXT.  33 

•with   Captain   Cushman,    Lieutenant   Clark, 
and   Captain   Kelly,    honorary   staff. 

Boston   Brass   Band,    30   men. 

Boston   Patriarchie   No.   4,    G.U.O.    of    O.F., 

H.   Black,   commander,    57   men. 

Crispus   Attucks    Lodge   K.P., 
George   W.    Winston,    commander,    30   men. 

Arriving  at  the  monument,  the  procession  entered  the  semi- 
diamond-shaped  enclosure  around  it,  and  the  State  and  city 
officials  and  the  Citizens'  Committee,  with  invited  guests,  oc 
cupied  a  platform  erected  in  front  of  the  monument ;  and 
in  the  midst  of  thousands  of  people,  the  ceremonies  began 
a  little  past  the  noon  hour. 

The  Germania  Band  played  "  America,"  and  then  the  REV. 
ELI  SMITH,  of  Springfield,  offered  the  following  prayer :  — 

PRAYER  OFFERED  BY  REV.  ELI  SMITH. 

O  Lord,  our  Heavenly  Father,  we  bow  before  Thee 
to-day  in  humble  acknowledgment  of  Thy  goodness 
and  greatness.  The  heavens  declare  Thy  glory,  and 
the  firmament  showeth  Thy  handiwork.  Before  the 
mountains  were  brought  forth,  or  ever  Thou  hadst 
formed  this  earth  or  the  world,  even  from  everlasting 
to  everlasting,  Thou  art  God.  We  rejoice  that  Thou 
hast  ever  borne  rule  in  the  aifairs  of  men,  and  that 
Thou  hast  given  nations  to  see  Thy  power  and  might. 
Thou  wast  Israel's  God;  and  because  they  trusted  in 
Thee,  Thou  didst  work  in  a  wonderful  way  with  them, 
and  didst  cause  them  to  become  more  powerful  than 
all  other  nations  besides.  Thou  wast  their  cloud  by 
day,  their  pillar  of  fire  by  night;  and  Thou  didst  even 


34  THE     ATTUCKS    MEMORIAL. 

make  a  way  for  them  through  the  sea.  It  was  only 
as  they  turned  from  following  Thee,  and  became  rebel 
lious  subjects,  that  they  were  discomfited  before  their 
enemies.  As  we  look  back  over  the  history  of  the 
past,  we  are  made  to  see  that  no  nation  or  people  have 
been  destined  to  a  very  long  or  prosperous  career  that 
have  not  made  the  Lord  their  God.  Help  us,  O  Lord 
God,  to  take  these  things  to  heart;  and  as  we  desire 
success  and  perpetuity  may  we  ever  be  loyal  to  Thee. 
Our  thoughts  now  dwell  upon  two  of  the  greatest 
struggles  in  which  the  American  people  have  engaged, 
—  the  one  of  1776,  the  other  of  1861.  We  thank 
Thee  that  through  the  one  the  principle  of  no  taxa 
tion  without  representation  was  vindicated,  and  that 
this  country  was  severed  from  Great  Britain;  and  that 
through  the  other  the  mistaken  notions  of  the  right 
of  secession  were  settled  by  the  sword,  and  human 
slavery  forever  abolished  from  our  land.  We  thank 
Thee  that  in  both  these  struggles  there  were  engaged 
those  of  an  oppressed  race,  who  for  centuries  had 
been  made  to  toil  as  bondmen.  We  thank  Thee  for 
the  exhibitions  they  gave  of  patriotism,  of  love  of 
country,  when  they  themselves  were  without  a  country. 
We  thank  Thee  that  the  first  blood  of  the  revolu 
tionary  conflict  was  shed  by  a  black  man,  a  repre 
sentative  of  the  race  with  whom  so  many  of  us  here 
are  identified.  We  take  great  pride  in  the  fact  that 
bravely  he  lost  his  life  battling  for  the  right.  We 
rejoice  that  it  is  our  privilege  —  a  grand  one  may  we 
esteem  it  —  to  do  honor  to-day  to  Crispus  Attucks 
and  his  brave  compatriots,  in  the  very  city  where  they 


UNVEILING    THE    MONUMENT.  35 

fell,  a  century  and  more  after  the  event.  We  thank 
Thee  that  Massachusetts,  the  Cradle  of  Liberty,  — 
Massachusetts,  foremost  ever  in  that  which  is  good;  the 
birthplace  of  the  anti-slavery  movement;  the  home  of 
Garrison,  of  Simmer,  of  Phillips,  of  Andrew,  and  of 
Wilson;  the  first  to  throw  open  her  schools  to  the 
black  man,  and  to  recognize  his  manhood,  —  is  also  the 
first  to  do  honor  to  him  in  rearing  a  monument  to 
commemorate  his  valor  and  patriotism  in  a  great 
conflict.  May  it  be  that  Massachusetts  shall  feel,  that 
as  she  by  this  monument  is  honoring  the  dead,  and 
giving  courage  and  hope  to  a  race  with  whom  one 
of  the  dead  was  identified,  that  so  is  she  doing  honor 
to  herself.  We  pray  Thee  to  bless  the  Governor 
of  our  Commonwealth  and  the  Legislature  of  our 
State,  also  the  Mayor  of  this  city,  to  whom  we  are 
in  so  great  measure  indebted  for  the  occasion  given 
us  to  celebrate  to-day.  Help  us  to  lay  aside  every 
weight  and  everything  that  may  tend  to  retard  our 
progress.  Grant  that  all  those  plotting  against  the 
peace  of  our  Government  may  be  foiled  in  their 
schemes.  Grant  that  the  time  may  come,  and  hasten,  we 
beseech  Thee,  its  coming,  when  we  shall  know  no 
^orth,  no  South,  no  East,  or  West;  when  race  or  creed 
shall  not  enter  into  the  question  of  the  solution  of 
any  of  our  problems  of  government;  but  when  we  shall 
be  indeed  United  States,  and  the  proudest  boast  of 
our  citizens  shall  be  that  they  are  American  citizens. 
Bless,  we  pray  Thee,  the  President  of  these  United 
States,  and  all  associated  with  him  in  authority. 
Grant  now  to  us  O  Lord,  we  do  beseech  Thee, 


36  THE    ATTUCKS    MEMORIAL. 

Thy  Holy  Spirit.  Be  Thou  in  the  services  of  this 
day.  May  the  words  spoken  by  those  who  have 
been  selected  for  the  occasion  not  fall  upon  dull  and 
inattentive  hearers,  but  may  they  be  as  seed  cast  in 
good  ground.  Give  it  unto  us  in  years  to  come, 
to  look  back  with  joy  to  this  day  as  one  of  the 
brightest  and  best  of  our  lives.  And  now  we  ask 
Thee  to  bless,  comfort,  sustain,  and  strengthen  us;  and 
to  Thee,  the  only  wise  God,  our  Creator  and  Preserver, 
be  praises,  glory,  and  dominion,  both  now  and  forever- 
more.  Amen. 

Mr.  WILLIAM  H.  DUPREE,  chairman  of  the  Citizens'  Com 
mittee,  then  opened  the  formal  exercises  of  the  unveiling  in 
the  following  words  :  — 

Fellow- Citizens , —  As  chairman  of  the  Committee  of 
Arrangements,  it  becomes  my  duty  to  open  the  exer 
cises  that  have  been  appointed  for  this  time.  In  the 
occurrence  which  we  commemorate,  the  colored  race 
has  a  profound  interest,  for  one  of  that  race  was 
the  principal  figure  in  it.  From  the  sacrifice  of  that 
day,  the  people  rose  with  new  inspiration,  —  the  deter 
mination  to  achieve  their  liberation,  if  not  from  for 
eign  tyranny,  at  least  from  domestic  oppression,  was 
fixed  by  this.  Whatever  the  immediate  purpose  was, 
it  hastened  the  formal  Declaration  of  Independence. 
On  the  fourth  day  of  March,  the  British  troops 
seemed  to  be  immovably  intrenched  in  Boston,  and 
the  enactments  of  their  superiors  were  supposed  to 
be  the  paramount  law  of  the  land.  On  the  5th,  by 


THE    MONUMENT.  37 


the  death  of  Attucks  and  his  comrades,  submission  to 
English  law  gave  place  to  active  opposition;  and 
when  the  governor  would  have  compromised  on  the 
6th  by  removing  one  of  the  two  regiments  from 
the  town,  the  fervor  and  firmness  of  the  people 
proved  too  much  for  him,  and  both  regiments  were 
taken  away.  The  people  were  masters.  The  real 
authority  had  been  wrested  from  the  king,  and 
assumed  by  his  subjects.  The  death  of  these  men 
made  the  republic  secure.  The  events  which  followed 
were  the  necessary  sequence  of  this,  and  so,  on 
Sept.  3,  1788,  the  official  stamp  of  legality  and 
regularity  was  given  to  the  "  disorderly  "  attack  on 
the  troops  thirteen  years  before. 

It  is  well  to  raise  monuments  on  the  fields  of 
Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill,  at  Saratoga  and  York- 
town,  to  the  defeats  and  triumphs  of  those  times; 
but  can  any  fact  be  more  worthy  of  remembrance 
than  the  first  and  undisciplined  resistance  of  those 
heroic  souls  that,  aflame  with  the  fire  of  freedom, 
would  not  wait  to  fight  in  well-formed  battalions? 

If  there  had  been  no  commencement  to  the  strug 
gle,  there  would  have  been  no  end  to  it.  Grand 
enterprises  grow  from  small  beginnings.  Those  who 
dare  against  the  greatest  odds  deserve,  in  the  event 
of  ultimate  success,  the  greatest  praise.  The  impor 
tance  of  an  action  is  measured  by  the  final  results 
of  it.  The  republic  started  out  in  her  career  of 
enlarging  freedom  when  the  mercenaries  of  the  crown 
were  first  forced  from  her  soil. 

The    greatest   thing   about   the   late    Civil   War   was 


38  THE     ATTUCKS     MEMORIAL. 

the  abolition  of  slavery.  The  raid  of  John  Brown 
commenced  the  effort;  the  emancipation  proclamation 
concluded  it.  Brown  led  the  march  for  freedom. 
The  great  thing  about  the  war  of  the  Revolution 
was  the  abolition  of  royal  rule  —  the  enthronement 
of  popular  sovereignty.  Fate  dictated  the  Peace  of 
1783,  that  for  all  peoples  and  for  all  times  has 
forever  affirmed  the  right  of  rebellion  against  tyranny 
when  Attucks  fell  in  1770. 

The  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts,  recognizing 
the  high  importance  of  this  date  in  our  annals,  has 
erected  this  monument  in  commemoration  of  it.  It 
is  the  office  of  the  chief  representative  of  the  State 
to  unveil  and  present  this  memorial  to  you. 

I  have  the  honor  to  introduce  His  Excellency  the 
Governor. 

Governor  AMES  responded,  as  representing  the  Common 
wealth,  in  the  following  words  :  — 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  —  We  meet  here  to-day  to 
unveil  a  memorial  of  no  common  deed.  We  are 
about  to  show  in  all  its  significance  a  tribute  to 
those  who  first  gave  their  lives  in  that  struggle  with 
the  mother  country  which  led  to  our  birth  as  a 
nation,  and  which  gave  us  a  chance  to  develop  as 
a  people.  This  is  the  first  monument  which  the 
State  has  ever  raised,  although  it  has  custody  of 
many  that  have  been  presented  to  it;  and  in  placing 
it  where  it  is,  the  Commonwealth  has  sought,  through 
its  Governor  and  Council,  to  not  only  give  it  an 


UNVEILING     THE     MONUMENT.  39 

appropriate  situation,  but  to  join  with  the  city  of 
Boston  in  its  perpetual  custody.  The  ready  response 
of  His  Honor  the  Mayor  to  my  suggestion  that  it  be 
placed  here,  insures  for  it  that  care  which  we  all 
desire. 

I  show  to  you  all  —  and  I  bespeak  for  it  careful 
inspection  —  the  tribute  in  stone  and  bronze  that 
Massachusetts  erects  to  not  the  least  of  its  heroes. 

As  the  Governor  closed,  Miss  Lillian  E.  Chappelle,  daugh 
ter  of  Mr.  J.  C.  Chappelle  of  the  committee,  pulled  the 
string  that  bound  the  canopy  of  American  tricolor  that  hid 
the  monument,  and  it  dropped  gracefully  to  the  pedestal, 
when  there  was  a  concerted  shout  of  delight  by  the  assem 
bled  thousands. 

His  Honor  HUGH  O'BRIEN,  Mayor  of  Boston,  was  then 
introduced,  and  said:  — 

Mr.  Chairman:  Your  Excellency r,  —  On  account  of 
the  exercises  in  Faneuil  Hall  I  will  merely  say  at 
this  time  that  I  accept  this  gift  in  the  name  of  our 
citizens  of  Boston,  and  I  congratulate  you,  Mr. 
Governor,  that  during  your  administration  the  State 
of  Massachusetts  has  been  patriotic  enough  to  erect 
a  monument  to  Crispus  Attucks  and  his  martyr 
associates. 

The  procession  then  re-formed  and  proceeded  to  Faneuil 
Hall,  marching  through  Tremont,  Court,  and  State  streets  to 
the  site  of  the  massacre,  and  thence  down  State  to  Mer 
chants  row  to  the  Hall. 


EXERCISES  AT  FANEUIL  HALL. 


EXEECISES  AT  FANEUIL  HALL, 


Faneuil  Hall  was  crowded  at  the  hour  appointed  for  the 
exercises  to  commence  by  an  audience  composed  of  people 
from  all  parts  of  the  Commonwealth  and  adjoining  States. 

On  the  platform,  among  others,  were  His  Excellency 
Gov.  Oliver  Ames,  Lieut. -Gov.  J.  Q.  A.  Brackett,  Hon. 
George  F.  Hoar,  ex-Gov.  Alexander  H.  Rice,  Hon. 
Henry  B.  Peirce,  Mayor  Hugh  O'Brien,  Hon.  P.  B.  S. 
Pinchback,  of  Louisanna,  Col.  M.  M.  Cunniff,  Curtis 
Guild,  Jr.,  Charles  Lincoln  Smith,  William  W.  Wheildon, 
T.  A.  Ridley,  Joseph  Lee,  Lewis  Hay  den,  Judge  Cowley, 
of  Lowell,  Robert  Treat  Paine,  Jr.,  Hon.  John  H.  Smythe, 
ex-Minister  to  Liberia,  Rev.  A.  A.  Miner,  D.D.,  Rev.  J. 
C.  Price,  of  Saulsbury,  N.C.,  and  the  Citizens'  Committee. 

At  1.25  P.M.  the  Germania  Band  performed  a  medley  of 
patriotic  airs,  at  the  conclusion  of  which  the  REV.  ALBERT 
H.  PLUMB,  D.D.,  pastor  cf  the  Walnut  Avenue  Congrega 
tional  Church,  made  the  following  prayer :  — 

Almighty  God,  the  God  of  our  fathers,  we  adore 
Thee  as  the  Father  of  all  flesh. 

Thou  hast  "made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of 
men  for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth," 
and  Thy  "tender  mercies  are  over  all  Thy  works." 

In  every  age  and  every  land  and  upon  all  peoples 
Thy  bountiful  benefactions  have  descended,  and  Thy 
providential  guidance  has  been  bestowed. 


44  THE    ATTUCKS    MEMORIAL. 

For,  although  we  gratefully  acknowledge  that  Thou 
hast  shed  peculiar  blessings  on  this  land  and  nation, 
as  Thou  didst  on  thy  chosen  people  in  ancient  time, 
we  adore  the  largeness  of  Thy  purpose  in  our  his 
tory  as  in  theirs.  Thou  didst  say  to  Abraham,  the 
father  of  the  faithful,  the  friend  of  God,  "In  thee 
shall  all  the  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed." 

And  "in  the  fulness  of  the  time"  of  the  seed 
of  Abraham  Thou  didst  send  forth  Thy  Son,  the 
Saviour  of  the  world,  "the  one  Mediator  between 
God  and  men,"  "that  He  should  taste  death  for 
every  man." 

And  O  Thou  God  of  nations,  who  hast  led  forth 
the  migrations  of  all  wandering  peoples,  and  hast 
hedged  in  the  dwelling-places  of  the  stable  nations, 
we  look  with  wonder  and  awe  on  the  orderly  pro 
cedure  of  Thy  plans  of  mercy  for  all  mankind  in 
our  own  history,  as  Thou  hast  brought  to  these 
shores  so  many  representatives  of  such  various  races 
of  men.  And  we  praise  Thee  that  under  the  benign 
influence  of  the  institutions  Thou  didst  aid  our 
fathers  here  to  plant,  there  has  been  here  enjoyed, 
in  the  sight  of  all  nations  and  for  the  benefit  of  all, — 
more,  we  believe,  than  ever  elsewhere  before,  —  a  prac 
tical  recognition  of  those  great  truths,  fundamental 
to  all  right  social  order,  —  the  fatherhood  of  God, 
and  the  brotherhood  of  man. 

O  God,  we  confess  with  sorrow,  that  human  his 
tory  has  been  marred,  and  the  upward  progress  of 
mankind  delayed,  by  the  practical  denial  of  these 
truths.  "We  mourn  that  in  this  guilt  we  ourselves 


EXERCISES    AT    FAXEUIL    HALL.  45 

have  shared.  Oh,  help  us  sincerely  to  repent  of  all 
unfilial  conduct  towards  Thee,  of  all  unbrotherly  feeling 
towards  our  brother-man. 

Forgive  us  all  our  sins,  through  the  mediation  of 
Thy  Son  our  Lord. 

And  may  the  commemorative  exercises  in  which 
we  are  now  engaged  fill  our  hearts  with  new  ad 
miration  for  all  heroic  self-sacrifice  for  the  honor  of 
God  and  the  good  of  man.  Let  Thy  blessing  rest 
on  all  who  have  aided  in  building  the  monument  we 
dedicate  this  day.  Smile,  especially,  we  pray  Thee, 
on  Thy  servants  the  Governor  of  this  Commonwealth, 
and  the  chief  magistrate  of  this  city,  that  their 
official  acts  in  these  services  may  lead  all  the  citizens 
whom  they  represent  to  cherish  a  larger  reverence 
for  liberty  and  law. 

Open  Thou  our  hearts  to  the  words  which  shall 
be  spoken  by  orator  and  poet,  in  praise  of  virtue 
and  valor  and  resistance  to  wrong. 

May  the  echo  of  the  words  here  spoken,  and  the 
sight  hereafter  of  the  stones  of  memorial  this  day 
consecrated,  —  calling  to  mind  the  long-past  hour 
when  the  soil  of  our  streets  was  reddened  by  the 
blood  of  patriots  of  different  lineage  and  color,  — 
lead  successive  generations  of  men  to  cherish  the 
spirit  of  charity  and  love  towards  all  mankind. 

Guard  Thou  our  liberties,  gracious  God,  our  free 
ballot,  our  free  press,  our  free  schools. 

And  may  liberty  of  thought,  liberty  of  speech, 
and  liberty  of  worship  never  perish  from  our  land. 
And  the  glory  shall  be  thine.  Amen. 


46  THE     ATTUCKS    MEMORIAL. 

Chairman  DUPREE  then  introduced  His  Excellency,  Gov 
ernor  AMES,  as  the  presiding  officer  of  the  occasion,  and 
Governor  AMES,  coming  forward  amid  applause,  said  :  — 

We  have  just  come  from  our  beloved  Common,  where 
has  been  unveiled  a  monument  erected  to  the  mem 
ory  of  a  noble  race  and  noble  men.  Those  men  who 
are  our  special  guests  to-day  are  representatives  of  a 
race  whose  brother,  Attucks,  was  the  first  one  to 
fall  in  that  great  massacre.  The  opinions  of  other 
and  wiser  men  have  been  given,  and  I  will  only  say 
that  this  is  a  most  fitting  tribute  to  the  memory  of 
an  occasion  which  did  much  toward  freeing  our 
nation  from  British  rule.  Allow  me  to  introduce 
your  Mayor. 

When    the  applause    subsided,    Mayor   O'BRIEN   said:  — 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  —  I  am 
aware  that  the  monument  to  Crispus  Attucks  and 
his  martyr  associates  has  been  the  subject  of  more 
or  less  adverse  criticism,  and  that  by  some  they  are 
looked  upon  as  rioters,  who  deserved  their  fate.  I 
look  upon  it  from  an  entirely  different  standpoint. 
The  Boston  Massacre  was  one  of  the  most  impor 
tant  and  exciting  events  that  preceded  our  Revolution. 
The  throwing  of  the  tea  overboard  in  Boston  harbor, 
the  Boston  Massacre,  Paul  Revere's  ride  to  Lexington, 
with  other  exciting  events,  had,  no  doubt,  great  in 
fluence  in  uniting  the  colonists  as  one  man  against 
unjust  taxation  and  British  oppression;  made  possible 


EXERCISES     AT    FA^EUIL     HALL.  47 

the  war  of  the  [Revolution  and  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  that  immortal  document  which  pro 
nounced  all  men  free  and  equal  without  regard  to 
color,  creed,  or  nationality. 

I  rejoice  with  you,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  after  the 
lapse  of  more  than  one  hundred  years,  the  erection 
of  the  Attacks  Monument  on  Boston  Common  ratifies 
the  words  of  that  declaration,  that  all  men  are  free 
and  equal,  without  regard  to  color,  creed,  or  nation 
ality;  and  that  the  memory  of  the  martyrs  whose 
blood  was  shed  in  the  cause  of  liberty  in  1770  will 
thus  be  preserved  and  honored  for  all  time. 

The  Germania  Band  again  played  patriotic  music,  and 
Governor  Ames  then  introduced  MR.  JOHN  FISKE,  of  Cam 
bridge,  the  well-known  historian  and  lecturer,  who  delivered 
the  oration  of  the  occasion  amidst  the  closest  attention  of 
the  great  audience,  who  frequently  interrupted  the  speaker 
with  applause  and  various  expressions  of  approval. 

The  KEV.  ANDREW  CHAMBERLAIN,  of  New  Bedford,  was  then 
introduced,  and  read  with  great  satisfaction  the  poem  written 
by  MR.  JOHN  BOYLE  O'REILLY. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  poem,  the  REV.  ALBERT  II.  PLUMB 
pronounced  the  benediction. 


POEM 


JOHN  BOYLE   O'REILLY 


CBISPUS  ATTUOKS. 


NEGRO     PATRIOT.  —  KILLED     IN    BOSTON,     MARCH    5,     1770. 


[The  Boston  Massacre,  March  5,  1770,  may  be  regarded  as  the  first  act  in  the 
drama  of  the  American  Revolution.  "From  that  moment,"  said  Daniel  Webster, 
"we  may  date  the  severance  of  the  British  Empire."  The  presence  of  the  British 
soldiers  in  King  street  excited  the  patriotic  indignation  of  the  people.  .  .  .  Led  by 
Crispus  Attucks,  the  mulatto  slave,  and  shouting,  "  The  way  to  get  rid  of  these  soldiers 
is  to  attack  the  main  guard !  strike  at  the  root !  this  is  the  nest ! "  with  more  valor 
than  discretion,  they  rushed  to  King  street,  and  were  fired  upon  by  Captain  Preston's 
company.  Crispus  Attucks  was  the  first  to  fall :  he  and  Samuel  Gray  and  James 
Caldwell  were  killed  on  the  spot.  Samuel  Maverick  and  Patrick  Carr  were  mortally 
wounded.  —  Historical  Research,  by  George  Livermore.  —  Mass.  Hist.  Society.] 


shall  we  seek  for  a  hero,  and  where  shall   we  find  a  story? 
Our    laurels    are    wreathed    for   conquest,    our   songs    for    completed 

glory ; 

But  we  honor  a  shrine  unfinished,  a  column  uncapped  with  pride, 
If    we    sing    the   deed   that   was    sown  like    seed   when   Crispus   At 
tucks  died. 

Shall  we  take  for  a  sign  this  Negro-slave,  with  unfamiliar  name  — 
With  his  poor  companions,  nameless   too,  till  their  lives  leaped  forth 

in  flame? 

Yes,  surely,  the  verdict  is  not  for  us  to  render  or  deny ; 
We  can  only  interpret  the  symbol ;  God  chose  these  men  to  die  — 
As    teachers,    perhaps,    that    to   humble   lives    may   chief   award   be 

made ; 
That  from  lowly  ones  and  rejected  stones   the  temple's  base  is  laid ! 


52  THE     ATTUCKS     MEMORIAL. 

When  the  bullets  leaped  from   the   British   guns,    no    chance    decreed 

their  aim : 

Men  see  what  the  royel  hirelings  saw  —  a  multitude  and  a  flame  ; 
But  beyond  the  flame  a  mystery  ;  five  dying  men  in  the  street, 
While  streams  of  severed  races  in  the  well  of  a  nation  meet ! 

Oh,  blood  of  the  people  !  changeless  tide,  through  century,  creed,  and 

race ! 
Still  one  as  the  sweet  salt   sea  is  one,  though  tempered  by  sun   and 

place ; 

The  same  in  the  ocean  currents,  and  the  same  in  the  sheltered  seas  ; 
Forever  the  fountain  of  common  hopes  and  kindly  sympathies. 
Indian  and  Negro,  Saxon  and  Celt,  Teuton  and  Latin  and  Gaul  — 
Mere  surface  shadow  and  sunshine,  while  the  sounding  unifies  all ! 
One  love,  one  hope,  one  duty  theirs !     No  matter  the  time  or  ken, 
There  never  was  separate  heart-beat  in  all  the  races  of  men ! 

But  alien  is  one  —  of  class,  not  race ;  he  has  drawn  the  line  for 
himself ; 

His  roots  drink  life  from  inhuman  soil,  from  garbage  of  pomp  and 
pelf; 

He  times  his  heart  from  the  common  beat,  he  has  changed  his  life- 
stream's  hue  ; 

He  deems  his  flesh  to  be  finer  flesh,  he  boasts  that  his  blood  is 
blue. 

Patrician,  aristocrat,  tory,  —  whatever  his  age  or  name, 

To  the  people's  rights  and  liberties  a  traitor  ever  the  same. 

The  natural  crowd  is  a  mob  to  him,  their  prayer  a  vulgar  rhyme  ; 

The  freeman's  speech  is  sedition,  and  the  patriot's  deed  a  crime. 

Wherever  the  race,  the  law,  the  land, — whatever  the  time  or  throne, 

The  tory  is  always  a  traitor  to  every  class  but  his  own. 

Thank  God  for  a  land  where  pride  is  clipped,  where  arrogance 
stalks  apart ; 

Where  law  and  song  and  loathing  of  wrong  are  words  of  the  com 
mon  heart ; 


THE   POEM:    CKISPUS   ATTUCKS.  53 

Where   the    masses  honor   straightforward   strength,  and   know   when 

veins  are  bled 
That   the    bluest  blood   is  putrid  blood  —  that    the    people's    blood  is 

red! 


And    honor   to    Crispus   Attucks,    who    was    leader   and    voice    that 

day,— 
The    first   to   defy,    and   the    first   to   die,  with   Maverick,    Garr,  and 

Gray. 

Call  it  riot  or  revolution,  his  hand  first  clenched  at  the  crown ; 
His   feet   were   the   first   in    perilous    place   to    pull   the    king's    flag 

down  ; 
His   breast  was  the  first  one   rent   apart  that  liberty's    stream   might 

flow ; 
For  our   freedom  now    and  forever,  his  head   was  the  first   laid   low. 


Call  it  riot  or  revolution,  or  mob  or  crowd,  as  you  may, 

Such  deaths   have  been  seed   of   nations,  such  lives  shall  be   honored 

for  aye. 
They    were    lawless    hinds    to    the    lackeys,    but    martyrs    to    Paul 

Revere ; 

And  Otis  and  Hancock  and  Warren  read  spirit  and  meaning  clear. 
Ye  teachers,  answer !  what  shall  be  done  when  just  men  stand  in 

the  dock? 

"When  the  caitiff  is  robed  in  ermine,  and  his  sworders  keep  the  lock ; 
When  torture  is  robbed  of  clemency,  and  guilt  is  without  remorse  ; 
When  tiger  and  panther  are  gentler  than  the  Christian  slaver's 

curse ; 

When  law  is  a  satrap's  menace,  and  order  the  drill  of  a  horde  — 
Shall   the   people   kneel  to  be   trampled,  and    bare  their   neck  to   the 

sword  ? 

Not  so !  by  this  Stone  of  Resistance  that  Boston  raises  here  ! 
By    the    old    North    Church's    lantern,    and    the    watching   of    Paul 
Revere ! 


54  THE     ATTUCKS    MEMORIAL. 

Not  so  !  by  Paris  of  'Ninety-Three,  and  Ulster  of  'Ninety-Eight ! 
By  Toussaint  in  St.  Domingo !  by  the  horror  of  Delhi's  gate ! 
By  Adam's  word  to  Hutchinson !  by  the  tea  that  is  brewing  still ! 
By  the    farmers   that  met  the    soldiers  at  Concord  and   Bunker  Hill ! 

Not  so !  not  so !  Till  the  world  is  done,  the  shadow  of  wrong  is 
dread.  • 

The  crowd  that  bends  to  a  lord  to-day,  to-morrow  shall  strike  him 
dead. 

There  is  only  one  thing  changeless :  the  earth  steals  from  under  our 
feet, 

The  times  and  manners  are  passing  moods,  and  the  laws  are  in 
complete  ; 

There  is  only  one   thing  changes  not,  one  word  that  still  survives  — 

The  slave  is  the  wretch  who  wields  the  lash,  and  not  the  man  in 
gyves ! 

There  is  only  one  test  of  contract :  is  it  willing,  is  it  good  ? 
There  is  only  one  guard  of  equal  right,  —  the  unity  of  blood. 
There  is  never  a  mind  unchained  and  true  that  class  or  race  allows ; 
There  is  never  a  law  to  be  obeyed  that  reason  disavows ; 
There  is  never  a  legal  sin  but  grows  to  the  law's  disaster. 
The    master   shall  drop   the   whip,  and   the    slave    shall   enslave    the 
master ! 

O  Planter  of  seed  in  thought  and  deed !  has  the  year  of  right  re 
volved, 

And  brought  the  Negro  patriot's  cause  with  its  problem  to  be 
solved  ? 

His  blood  streamed  first  for  the  building,  and  through  all  the 
century's  years, 

Our  growth  of  story  and  fame  of  glory  are  mixed  with  his  blood  and 
tears. 

He  lived  with  men  like  a  soul  condemned  —  derided,  defamed,  and 
mute  ; 

Debased  to  the  brutal  level,  and  instructed  to  be  a  brute. 


THE   POEM:    CRISPUS  ATTUCKS.  55 

His  virtue  was  shorn  of  benefit,  his  industry  of  reward ; 

His  love  !  —  O  men,  it  were  mercy  to   have  cut  affection's  cord ! 

Through  the  night  of  his  woe,  no  pity  save  that  of  his  fellow- 
slave  ; 

For  the  wage  of  his  priceless  labor,  the  scourging  block  and  the 
grave ! 

And  now,  is  the  tree  to  blossom?  Is  the  bowl  of  agony  filled? 

Shall  the  price  be  paid  and  the  honor  said  and  the  word  of  out 
rage  stilled? 

And  we  who  have  toiled  for  freedom's  law,  have  we  sought  for 
freedom's  soul? 

Have  we  learned  at  last  that  human  right  is  not  a  part,  but  the 
whole  ? 

That  nothing  is  told  while  the  clinging  sin  remains  part  uncon- 
f essed  ? 

That  the   health  of   the  nation  is  perilled  if    one  man   be  oppressed? 

Has   he    learned  —  the    slave    from    the    rice-swamps,  whose    children 

were  sold  —  has  he 
With  broken  chains  on  his  limbs,    and  the  cry  in    his  blood,  "  I  am 

free?" 
Has    he     learned    through    affliction's    teaching     what    our     Crispus 

Attucks  knew  — 
When   Right  is  stricken,    the   white   and   black   are   counted    as  one, 

not  two? 

Has  he  learned  that  his  century  of  grief  was  worth  a  thousand  years 
In   blending  his  life    and  blood  with  ours,  and  that   all  his  toils  and 

tears 
Wi-re  heaped    and   poured  on   him    suddenly,  to  give   him  a  right   to 

stand 

From  the  gloom  of   African  forests  in   the  blaze  of   the  freest  land  ? 
That  his   hundred   years  have  earned  for   him  a  place    in  the    human 

van 
Which   others  have    fought   for  and   thought   for   since   the  world   of 

wrong  began? 


56  THE     ATTUCKS     MEMORIAL. 

For   this    shall   his   vengeance    change   to   love,    and    his   retribution 

bum, 
Defending  the  right,  the   weak  and  the   poor,  when   each    shall  have 

his  turn. 

For  this  shall  he  set  his  woful  past  afloat  on  the  stream  of  night ; 
For  this  he  forgets,  as  we  all  forget,  when  darkness  turns  to  light ; 
For  this  he  forgives,  as  we  all  forgive,  when  wrong  has  changed  to 

right. 

And  so  must  we  come  to  the  learning  of   Boston's  lesson  to-day ; 
The   moral  that  Crispus   Attucks    taught  in  the  old  heroic  way,  — 
God    made    mankind   to    be    one    in    blood,    as    one    in    spirit    and 

thought ; 
And    so   great    a  boon,    by    a   brave    man's    death,    is    never   dearly 

bought ! 


ADDEESS 


ME.    JOHN    FISKE 


THE  "BOSTON  MASSACKE." 


We  have  met  here  to-day,  in  the  venerable  building 
which  has  so  long  been  known  to  Americans  as  the 
Cradle  of  Liberty,  to  commemorate  one  of  the  most 
significant  and  impressive  events  in  the  noble  strug 
gle  in  which  our  forefathers  succeeded  in  vindicating, 
for  themselves  and  their  posterity,  the  sacred  right 
of  self-government.  Among  the  incidents  of  that 
stirring  period,  there  are  perhaps  none  more  worthy 
of  our  careful  study  than  those  which  attended  the 
compulsory  withdrawal  from  Boston  of  the  troops 
which  had  been  sent  here  for  the  purpose  of  intim 
idating  its  citizens  and  aiding  in  the  enforcement  of 
an  odious  system  of  revenue  laws  which  the  people 
had  had  no  voice  in  making,  and  to  which  it  was 
impossible  for  them  tamely  to  submit  without  losing 
their  own  self-respect  and  imperilling  the  safety  and 
happiness  of  future  generations.  When  John  Adams, 
in  alluding  long  afterward  to  the  memorable  5th  of 
March,  1770,  declared  that  "  on  that  night  the  foun 
dation  of  American  independence  was  laid,"  he  spoke 
with  the  vehement  emphasis  that  was  customary t  with 
him.  Yet  while  it  may  not  be  necessary  to  adopt 
the  statement  in  all  its  literal  force,  it  serves  to 
show  us  how  deeply  the  events  of  that  evening 


60  THE     ATTUCKS     MEMORIAL. 

were  graven  upon  the  writer's  mind;  and  it  recalls 
with  such  vividness  the  temper  and  spirit  of  the 
time,  as  to  lead  us  back  to  the  true  historical  point 
of  view.  There  is  a  sense  in  which  John  Adams' 
remark  was  quite  true.  In  order  to  point  out  the 
real  significance  of  the  Boston  Massacre  and  its 
place  in  American  history,  I  must  invite  your  at 
tention  for  a  few  moments  to  the  circumstances 
which  led  to  the  presence  of  British  troops  in  Bos 
ton  from  the  autumn  of  1768  to  the  spring  of 
1770. 

The  troubles  and  disorders  in  Boston  which  led  to 
the  Revolution  began  soon  after  the  grant  of  writs  of 
assistance  to  the  revenue  officers  in  1761.  These 
writs  of  assistance  were  general  search-warrants,  em 
powering  the  collectors  of  customs  to  enter  houses 
or  shops  in  search  of  smuggled  goods,  but  without 
specifying  either  houses  or  goods.  This  made  it 
possible  for  a  revenue  officer  to  visit  anybody's 
house,  —  perhaps  from  mere  private  spite,  —  and  lay 
hands  upon  such  articles  as  it  might  please  him  to 
condemn  as  having  been  brought  into  town  without 
paying  duty.  The  exercise  of  such  an  odious  tyranny 
was  sure  to  be  resisted,  and  it  was  resisted.  During 
the  next  half-dozen  years,  there  were  many  instances 
in  which  warehouse  doors  were  barricaded  and  the 
officers  successfully  defied.  Into  the  midst  of  this 
irritation  came  the  Stamp  Act  of  1765,  a  law  which 
was  repealed  the  next  year  because  it  was  found 
impossible  to  enforce  it  in  any  of  the  colonies. 
The  immediate  fruits  of  the  Stamp  Act  were  riots 


THE     ADDRESS.  61 

in  Xew  York  and  Boston  and  elsewhere ;  and  one 
of  these  riots  in  Boston  was  perhaps  the  most  shame 
ful  affair  in  all  the  history  of  this  town.  It  is  quite 
characteristic  of  mob  law  to  strike  in  the  wrong 
places,  and  to  punish  those  who  have  not  offended. 
An  impression  got  abroad  that  Chief  Justice  Hutch- 
inson  had  favored  the  passage  of  the  Stamp  Act, 
and  had  acted  as  an  informer  against  certain  mer 
chants  suspected  of  breaking  the  revenue  laws.  This 
impression  was  entirely  incorrect,  but  under  the  in 
fluence  of  it,  one  night  in  August,  1765,  a  drunken 
mob  broke  into  Mr.  Hutchinson's  house,  threw  his 
furniture  and  pictures  into  the  street,  and  destroyed 
the  noble  library  which  he  had  been  thirty  years  in 
collecting,  and  which  contained  many  priceless  his 
torical  documents,  the  loss  of  which  can  never  be 
repaired.  Let  us  here  particularly  observe  that  this 
disgraceful  affair  was  at  once  disowned  and  condemned 
by  the  people  of  Boston.  Before  Governor  Bernard 
next  morning  had  time  to  summon  the  Council,  a 
town-meeting  here  in  Faneuil  Hall  had  expressed  its 
abhorrence  of  the  work  of  the  rioters,  and  similar 
expressions  of  feeling  were  soon  heard  from  town- 
meetings  all  over  the  Commonwealth.  The  ring-leaders 
were  imprisoned,  and  the  Legislature,  chosen  by  the 
people,  hastened  to  indemnify  Mr.  Hutchinson,  so  far 
as  possible,  for  the  damage  inflicted  by  the  mob. 
This  incident  shows  conclusively  that  the  people  of 
Massachusetts  felt  no  sympathy  for  rioters;  and  it 
should  be  borne  in  mind  when  we  come  to  consider 
the  very  different  feelings  which  were  called  forth 


62  THE     ATTUCKS     MEMORIAL. 

by  the  circumstances  of  the  Boston  Massacre.  Let 
us  not  fail  to  note  that  the  great  popular  leader, 
Samuel  Adams,  whom  the  loyalists  were  fond  of 
calling  the  "  chief  incendiary,"  was  emphatic  in  his 
condemnation  of  the  Hutchinson  riot.  One  of  Adams' 
favorite  maxims  was,  "Always  keep  your  enemy  in 
the  wrong."  He  knew  that  the  American  people 
were  in  the  right,  and  therefore  always  appealed  to 
reason,  and  always  deprecated  any  resort  to  violence. 
We  may  now  pass  to  the  year  1767,  when  Par 
liament,  under  the  lead  of  Charles  Townshend,  passed 
a  new  revenue  law  for  America.  If  the  old  revenue 
laws  were  odious  because  of  the  harsh  way  in  which 
they  were  enforced,  this  act  of  1767  was  doubly 
odious  because  of  the  principle  which  it  involved. 
Hitherto  such  acts  had  been  passed  with  the  design 
of  regulating  the  commerce  of  the  British  Empire. 
This  Townshend  act,  in  laying  duties  upon  tea  and 
other  articles,  had  a  very  different  purpose.  Under 
pretence  of  regulating  commerce,  it  sought  to  deprive 
the  Americans  of  their  right  of  self-government. 
This  was  at  once  evident  from  the  way  in  which 
the  revenue  derived  from  the  tea  and  other  articles 
was  to  be  used.  It  was  to  be  used  for  defraying 
the  cost  of  a  civil  service  to  be  established  in  all 
the  colonies,  and  to  be  directly  responsible  to  the 
crown.  There  had  been  much  dispute  for  fifty  years 
as  to  the  way  in  which  the  governors'  salaries 
should  be  paid.  The  act  of  1767  was  the  prelude  to 
a  series  of  measures  for  taking  this  question  out  of 
the  hands  of  the  people  entirely.  It  was  five  years 


THE     ADDRESS.  63 

more  before  the  most  serious  of  these  measures,  at 
tacking  the  independence  of  the  judges,  was  passed; 
but  the  whole  policy  of  the  British  Government  was 
so  clearly  indicated  in  the  preamble  to  the  act  of 
1767  that  the  Americans  could  not  mistake  it. 
People  often  talk  as  if  the  American  Revolution 
originated  in  a  mere  money  dispute,  or  else  in  some 
theoretical  discussion  over  the  right  of  representation. 
This  is  a  grave  mistake.  It  was  far  from  being  a 
mere  question  of  paying  duties,  and  there  was  much 
more  in  it  than  an  assertion  of  abstract  principle.  It 
was  something  that  came  home  with  grim  reality  to 
everybody's  door.  Tea  was  selected  as  the  chief  ar 
ticle  for  taxation,  because  it  was  supposed  that 
people  could  not  get  along  without  it.  In  its  act 
of  1767,  the  British  Government  said  to  the  American 
people,  "  We  know  very  well  that  your  wives  and 
daughters  will  never  give  up  their  quiet  social 
entertainments,  in  which  tea  is  deemed  indispensable. 
We  are  therefore  going  to  tax  that  article,  and  with 
the  money  which  you  thus  cannot  help  paying,  we 
are  going  to  defray  the  salaries  of  your  governors 
and  judges,  and  thus  make  them  entirely  independent 
of  you,  and  responsible  only  to  us."  What  was  this 
but  a  shameless  demand  that  the  American  people 
should  part  with  their  liberty?  It  was  answered  in 
three  ways.  Merchants  in  all  the  colonies  answered 
by  forming  associations  pledged  to  buy  no  more 
goods  of  any  sort  from  England  until  the  act  of 
1767  should  be  repealed.  The  ladies  answered  by 
forming  associations  pledged  to  wear  homespun  clothes 


64  THE     ATTUCKS     MEMORIAL. 

and  drink  no  more  tea  until  the  Government  should 
retreat  from  its  position.  The  Massachusetts  Assembly 
answered  in  1768  by  its  famous  circular  letter  ad 
dressed  to  the  other  colonies,  inviting  them  to  coop 
erate  with  Massachusetts  in  resisting  the  enforcement 
of  the  law,  and  in  petitioning  for  its  prompt  repeal. 

This  circular  letter  enraged  King  George  and  his 
ministers,,  and  an  order  in  council  presently  called 
upon  the  Massachusetts  Assembly  to  rescind  it.  At 
the  same  time  orders  were  sent  to  the  assemblies  of 
all  the  other  colonies,  forbidding  them  to  pay  any 
heed  to  the  Massachusetts  circular,  under  penalty  of 
instant  dissolution.  Thus  said  the  king,  and  how 
was  he  answered?  For  the  first  time,  perhaps,  in 
any  American  legislative  body,  there  was  uttered  a 
threat  of  rebellion.  "  We  are  asked  to  rescind,  are 
we?"  said  James  Otis;  "let  Great  Britain  rescind 
her  measures,  or  the  colonies  are  lost  to  her  for 
ever  ! "  After  a  debate  of  nine  days,  the  Massachu 
setts  Assembly  decided,  by  a  vote  of  ninety-two  to 
seventeen,  that  it  would  not  rescind  its  circular  let 
ter.  The  Assembly  was  immediately  dissolved  by 
Governor  Bernard,  but  its  vote  was  hailed  with  de 
light  all  over  the  country,  and  "  the  Illustrious 
Ninety-two "  became  the  favorite  toast  on  all  con 
vivial  occasions.  In  several  other  colonies  the  as 
semblies  passed  resolutions  expressing  their  sympathy 
with  Massachusetts,  and  for  so  doing  they  were 
turned  out  of  doors  by  the  governors,  in  conformity 
to  the  royal  order. 

A   decisive   issue    Avas    thus  rapidly  forming  between 


THE    ADDRESS.  65 

the  colonies  and  the  crown;  and  as  the  freedom  of 
all  was  alike  involved  in  it,  the  way  was  fast  being 
smoothed  for  the  beginnings  of  the  American  Union. 
As  the  ministry  were  inclined  to  try  conclusions, 
especially  with  Massachusetts  and  with  Boston,  every 
thing  that  was  done  here  for  the  next  seven  years 
was  watched  with  intense  interest,  and  was  fraught 
with  peculiar  significance  for  the  whole  country.  In 
the  spring  of  1768,  the  fifty-gun  frigate  "  Romney " 
was  sent  to  mount  guard  in  Boston  harbor  and  aid 
the  revenue  commissioners;  and  while  she  lay  there, 
several  of  the  citizens  were  seized  and  impressed  as 
seamen. 

^Now,  while  the  town  was  very  indignant  over 
this  lawless  kidnapping  of  its  citizens,  on  the  10th 
of  June,  John  Hancock's  sloop  "  Liberty "  was 
seized  at  the  wharf  by  a  boat's  crew  from  the 
:?  Romney,"  for  an  alleged  violation  of  the  revenue 
laws,  though  without  official  warrant.  Insults  and 
recriminations  ensued  between  the  officers  and  the 
citizens  assembled  on  the  wharf,  until  after  a 
while  the  excitement  grew  into  a  mild  form  of 
riot,  in  which  a  few  windows  were  broken,  some 
of  the  officers  were  pelted,  and  finally  a  pleasure- 
bout  belonging  to  the  collector  was  pulled  up  out 
of  the  water,  carried  to  the  Common,  and  burned 
there,  —  when,  at  length,  Hancock  and  Adams  arriv 
ing  upon  the  scene,  put  a  stop  to  the  commotion. 
A  few  days  afterward  a  town-meeting  was  held  in 
Faneuil  Hall;  but  as  the  crowd  was  too  great  to  be 
contained  in  the  building,  it  was  adjourned  •  to  the 


66  THE     ATTUCKS     MEMORIAL. 

Old  South  Meeting-House,  where  Otis  addressed  the 
people  from  the  pulpit.  A  petition  to  the  Governor 
was  prepared,  in  which  it  was  set  forth  that  the 
impressment  of  peaceful  citizens  was  an  illegal  act, 
and  that  the  state  of  the  town  was  as  if  war  had 
been  declared  against  it;  and  the  Governor  was  re 
quested  to  order  the  instant  removal  of  the  frigate 
from  the  harbor.  A  committee  of  twenty-one  lead 
ing  citizens  was  appointed  to  deliver  this  petition  to 
the  Governor  at  his  house  in  Jamaica  Plain.  In  his 
letters  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  Bernard  professed 
to  live  in  constant  fear  of  assassination,  and  was 
always  begging  for  troops  to  protect  him  against  the 
incendiary  and  blackguard  mob  of  Boston.  Yet,  as 
he  looked  down  the  beautiful  road  from  his  open 
window  that  summer  afternoon,  what  he  saw  was  not 
a  ragged  mob  armed  with  knives  and  bludgeons, 
shouting  "Liberty  or  death,"  and  bearing  the  head 
of  a  revenue  collector  aloft  on  the  point  of  a  pike, — 
what  he  saw  was  a  quiet  procession  of  eleven  chaises, 
from  which  there  alighted  at  his  door  twenty-one 
gentlemen,  as  sedate  and  stately  in  demeanor  as  those 
old  Roman  senators  at  whom  the  Gaulish  chief  so 
marvelled.  There  followed  a  very  affable  interview, 
during  which  wine  was  passed  around;  and  next 
day  the  Governor's  answer  was  read  in  town-meeting, 
declining  to  remove  the  frigate,  but  promising  that 
in  future  there  should  be  no  more  impressment  of 
Massachusetts  citizens;  and  with  this  compromise  the 
wrath  of  the  people  was,  for  the  moment,  assuaged. 
Affairs  of  this  sort,  reported  with  gross  exaggera- 


THE     ADDRESS.  67 

tion  by  the  Governor  and  revenue  commissioners  to 
the  ministry,  produced  in  England  the  impression 
that  Boston  was  a  lawless  and  riotous  town,  full  of 
cutthroats  and  blacklegs,  whose  violence  could  only 
be  held  in  check  by  martial  law.  Of  all  the  mis 
conceptions  of  America  by  England  which  brought 
about  the  American  Revolution,  perhaps  this  notion 
of  the  extreme  turbulence  of  Boston  was  the  most 
ludicrous.  During  the  ten  years  of  excitement  which 
preceded  the  war  of  independence,  if  we  except 
the  one  shameful  riot  in  which  Hutchinson's  house 
was  sacked,  there  was  much  less  uproar  and  confu 
sion  in  Boston  than  might  reasonably  have  been 
expected.  In  all  this  time  not  a  drop  of  blood  was 
shed  by  the  people,  nor  was  anybody's  life  for  a 
moment  in  danger  at  their  hands.  The  only  fit 
ground  for  wonder  is  that  they  behaved  themselves 
so  quietly.  The  disturbance  attending  the  seizure 
of  the  sloop  "  Liberty "  was  a  fair  sample  of  the 
disorders  which  occurred  at  moments  of  extreme  ex 
citement,  and  it  was  nothing  compared  to  the  riots 
which  used  to  happen  in  London  in  those  days. 
?The  worst  you  could  say  about  Boston,"  observed 
Colonel  Barre  in  Parliament,  r?  was  that  she  was 
imitating  the  mother-country." 

Even  before  the  affair  of  the  "  Liberty,"  the  Gov 
ernment  had  made  up  its  mind  to  send  troops  to 
Boston.  The  avowed  purpose  in  sending  them  was 
to  preserve  order;  and  such  events  as  the  sacking 
of  Hutchinson's  house  must  have  gone  far  toward 
creating  in  England  a  public  opinion  which  should 


4 

68  THE     ATTUCKS     MEMORIAL. 

sanction  such  a  measure.  But  beneath  this  avowed 
purpose  lay  the  ultimate  purpose,  on  the  part  of  the 
king  and  his  friends,  of  intimidating  the  popular 
party  and  enforcing  the  Townshend  act.  The  people 
of  Boston  understood  this  perfectly  well.  They  knew 
that  the  Townshend  act  was  contrary  to  the  whole 
spirit  of  the  British  constitution;  and  in  this  they 
were  at  one  with  many  of  the  ablest  and  most 
liberal  statesmen  of  England.  There  were  no  dis 
orders  that  had  not  directly  originated  in  British 
aggression,  —  not  one.  Let  this  unjust  and  mischiev 
ous  act  of  legislation  be  repealed,  and  there  would 
be  no  disorders  to  be  repressed.  Whatever  the 
ostensible  purpose  by  which  the  sending  of  these 
troops  was  justified  to  the  British  people,  there  could 
be  no  doubt  as  to  its  real  meaning.  It  meant  the 
substitution  of  brute  force  for  argument;  it  meant 
military  tyranny.  And  this,  I  say,  the  people  of 
Boston  knew  full  well,  although  some  of  their  de 
scendants  seem  to  have  forgotten  it. 

In  September,  1768,  it  was  announced  in  Boston 
that  the  troops  were  on  their  way,  and  would  soon 
be  landed.  There  happened  to  be  a  legal  obstacle, 
unforeseen  by  the  ministry,  to  their  being  quartered 
in  the  city.  In  accordance  with  the  general  act  of 
Parliament  for  quartering  troops,  the  regular  bar 
racks  at  Castle  William  in  the  harbor  would  have 
to  be  filled  before  the  town  could  be  required  to 
find  quarters  for  any  troops.  Another  clause  of  the 
act  provided  that  if  any  military  officer  should  take 
upon  himself  to  quarter  soldiers  in  any  of  His 


THE     ADDRESS.  69 

Majesty's  dominions,  otherwise  than  as  allowed  by 
the  act,  he  should  straightway  be  dismissed  the 
service.  At  the  news  that  the  troops  were  about 
to  arrive,  the  Governor  was  asked  to  convene  the 
Assembly,  that  it  might  be  decided  how  to  re 
ceive  them.  On  Bernard's  refusal,  the  selectmen  of 
Boston  issued  a  circular,  inviting  all  the  towns  of 
Massachusetts  to  send  delegates  to  a  general  con 
vention,  in  order  that  deliberate  action  might  be 
taken  upon  this  important  matter.  In  answer  to  the 
circular,  delegates  from  ninety-six  towns  assembled 
in  Faneuil  Hall,  and,  laughing  at  the  Governor's 
order  to  "disperse,"  proceeded  to  show  how,  in  the 
exercise  of  the  undoubted  right  of  public  meeting, 
the  colony  could  virtually  legislate  for  itself  in  the 
absence  of  its  regular  Legislature.  The  convention, 
finding  that  nothing  was  necessary  for  Boston  to  do 
but  insist  upon  strict  compliance  with  the  letter  of 
the  law,  adjourned.  In  October,  two  regiments  —  the 
Fourteenth  and  Twenty-ninth  —  arrived,  and  were 
allowed  to  land  without  opposition,  but  no  lodging 
was  provided  for  them.  Governor  Bernard,  in  fear 
of  an  affray,  had  gone  out  into  the  country;  but 
nothing  could  have  been  further  from  the  thoughts 
of  the  people.  The  commander,  Colonel  Dalrymple 
of  the  Fourteenth,  requested  shelter  for  his  men,  but 
was  told  that  he  must  quarter  them  in  the  barracks 
at  Castle  William.  As  the  night  was  frosty,  how 
ever,  they  were  compassionately  allowed  to  sleep  in 
Faneuil  Hall,  ^"ext  day  the  Governor,  finding  every 
thing  quiet,  came  back,  and  heard  Dalrymple's  com- 


70  THE     ATTUCKS     MEMORIAL. 

plaint.  But  in  vain  did  he  apply  in  turn  to  the 
Council,  to  the  selectmen,  and  to  the  justices  of  the 
peace,  to  grant  quarters  for  the  troops:  he  was  told 
that  the  law  was  plain,  and  that  the  Castle  must  first 
be  occupied.  The  Governor  then  tried  to  get  pos 
session  of  an  old  dilapidated  building  which  belonged 
to  the  colony,  but  the  tenants  had  taken  legal 
advice,  and  told  him  to  turn  them  out  if  he  dared. 
Nothing  could  be  more  provoking.  General  Gage 
was  obliged  to  come  on  from  his  headquarters  at 
New  York;  but  not  even  he,  the  commander-in-chief 
of  His  Majesty's  forces  in  America,  could  quarter 
the  troops  in  violation  of  the  statute,  without  run 
ning  the  risk  of  being  cashiered  on  conviction 
before  two  justices  of  the  peace.  So  the  soldiers 
stayed  in  tents  on  the  Common,  until  the  weather 
grew  so  cold  that  Dalrymple  was  obliged  to  hire 
some  buildings  for  them  at  exorbitant  rates  and  at 
the  expense  of  the  crown.  By  the  time  this  ques 
tion  was  settled,  two  more  regiments  —  the  Sixty- 
fourth  and  Sixty-fifth  —  had  arrived,  and  were 
quartered  in  some  large  storehouses  on  Wheel 
wright's  wharf.  The  Fourteenth  was  quartered  in  a 
building  on  Brattle  street,  owned  by  James  Murray, 
and  henceforth  known  as  "  Murray's  Barracks ;  "  the 
Twenty-ninth  was  quartered  between  King  and 
"Water  streets;  and  the  main  guard  was  accommo 
dated  in  King  street  near  the  Town  House.  Small 
detachments  were  posted  at  the  ferries  and  on 
Boston  Neck,  and  two  cannon  were  planted  on 
King  street  with  their  muzzles  pointing  toward  the 


THE     ADDRESS.  71 

Town  House  —  for  what  purpose  it  would  be  hard  to 
say;  hut  it  could  hardly  be  otherwise  interpreted  by 
the  people  than  as  a  menace  and  an  insult. 

Xo  sooner  were  the  soldiers  thus  established  in 
Boston  than  Samuel  Adams  published  the  series  of 
letters  signed  "Yindex,"  in  which  he  argued  that  to 
quarter  an  army  among  the  people  of  Massachusetts 
without  the  consent  of  the  Legislature  was  as  unjusti 
fiable  and  as  gross  a  violation  of  the  Bill  of  Rights 
as  it  would  be  to  quarter  an  army  in  London  with 
out  the  consent  of  Parliament.  In  other  words,  the 
troops  were  intruders  and  trespassers  in  Boston;  they 
had  no  right  to  be  here  at  all,  since  the  Govern 
ment  had  transcended  its  constitutional  powers  in 
sending  them.  This  was  part  and  parcel  of  Adams' 
doctrine,  that  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  was  as 
supreme  in  Massachusetts  as  the  Parliament  in  Great 
Britain;  that  Americans  must  be  governed  by  law 
makers  chosen  by  themselves,  and  not  by  law-makers 
chosen  by  other  people.  It  was  to  maintain  this 
doctrine  that  the  Revolutionary  War  was  fought; 
and  our  forefathers,  who  maintained  it,  were  quite 
right  in  holding  that  the  soldiers  were  intruders,  who 
might  with  entire  propriety  be  warned  off  the  prem 
ises  or  forcibly  ejected,  should  occasion  require  it. 
For  the  present  the  milder  course  of  petition  to  the 
king  was  the  proper  one;  and  in  the  annual  March 
meeting  of  1769,  a  paper  was  adopted,  praying  for 
the  removal  of  the  troops.  In  April  the  ministry, 
without  consulting  Governor  Bernard,  instructed  Gen 
eral  Gage  at  New  York  to  use  his  own  discretion 


72  THE     ATTUCKS     MEMORIAL. 

as  to  keeping  the  troops  at  Boston  or  withdrawing 
them.  Early  in  June  Gage  ordered  the  Sixty-fourth 
and  Sixty-fifth  Regiments  away  from  Boston,  and  in 
the  letter  in  which  he  advised  Bernard  of  this  order, 
he  asked  him  if  it  would  not  be  better  to  remove 
the  other  two  regiments  also.  The  citizens,  hearing 
of  this,  held  a  town-meeting,  and  declared  that  the 
civil  magistrates  were  quite  able  to  protect  life  and 
property,  so  that  the  mere  presence  of  the  troops 
was  an  insult  to  the  town.  Bernard,  however,  wrote 
to  Gage  that  it  would  not  be  prudent  to  remove 
the  troops,  though  perhaps  one  regiment  in  the  town 
and  one  at  the  Castle  might  be  enough.  The  result 
was  that  nothing  more  was  done,  and  the  Fourteenth 
and  Twenty-ninth  Regiments  remained  at  their  quarters. 
In  July,  Bernard  sailed  for  England,  leaving  affairs 
in  the  hands  of  Hutchinson  as  lieutenant-governor. 

"While  these  things  were  going  on,  the  soldiers 
did  many  things  that  greatly  annoyed  the  people. 
They  led  brawling,  riotous  lives,  and  made  the 
quiet  streets  hideous  by  night  with  their  drunken 
shouts.  Scores  of  loose  women,  who  had  followed 
the  regiments  across  the  ocean,  came  to  scandalize 
the  town  for  a  while,  and  then  to  encumber  the  alms- 
house.  On  Sundays  the  soldiers  would  race  horses 
on  the  Common,  or  would  play  ?  Yankee  Doodle " 
just  outside  the  church-doors  during  the  services. 
Xow  and  then  oaths,  or  fisticuffs,  or  blows  with 
sticks  were  exchanged  between  soldiers  and  citizens, 
and  at  length  a  much  more  serious  affair  occurred. 
One  evening  in  September  a  dastardly  assault  was 


THE     ADDRESS.  73 

made  upon  James  Otis  at  the  British  Coffee  House 
by  one  Robinson,  a  Commissioner  of  Customs, 
assisted  by  half  a  dozen  army  officers.  It  was  a 
strange  parallel  to  the  assault  upon  Charles  Sumner 
by  Brooks  of  South  Carolina,  shortly  before  the  War 
of  Secession.  Otis  was  savagely  beaten,  and  received 
a  blow  on  the  head  with  a  sword,  from  the  effects 
of  which  he  never  recovered,  but  finally  lost  his 
reason.  The  popular  wrath  at  this  outrage  was 
intense,  but  there  was  110  disturbance.  Otis  brought 
suit  against  Robinson,  and  recovered  two  thousand 
pounds  in  damages,  but  refused  to  accept  a  penny 
of  it  when  Robinson  confessed  himself  in  the  wrong, 
and  humbly  asked  pardon  for  his  irreparable  offence. 
During  the  next  six  months  the  tension  of  feeling 
steadily  increased.  Dr.  Franklin  wrote  from  London 
that  he  lived  in  constant  dread  of  the  news  of 
some  outbreak  that  might  occasion  irreparable  mis 
chief.  In  the  course  of  February,  1770,  there  was 
an  unusual  number  of  personal  encounters.  In  one 
or  two  instances  criminals  were  forcibly  rescued  from 
the  hands  of  the  constable.  Citizens  were  pricked 
with  bayonets.  On  the  22d  of  that  month,  a  well- 
known  informer  named  Richardson,  being  pelted  by 
a  party  of  school-boys,  withdrew  into  his  house, 
opened  a  window,  and  fired  at  random  into  the 
crowd,  killing  a  little  boy,  Christopher  Snyder,  about 
eleven  years  of  age,  and  severely  wounding  a  son 
of  Capt.  John  Gore.  The  funeral  of  the  murdered 
boy  took  place  on  Monday,  the  26th,  and  was 
attended  by  a  grand  procession  of  citizens.  It  was 


74  THE     ATTUCKS     MEMORIAL. 

with  some  difficulty  that  Richardson,  on  his  way  to 
jail,  was  protected  from  the  wrath  of  the  people. 
On  his  trial  in  April  he  was  convicted  of  murder, 
but  after  two  years  in  prison  was  pardoned.  TVre 
can  well  understand  that  the  state  of  feeling  in  the 
days  following  the  little  boy's  funeral  must  have 
been  extremely  intense.  Quarrels  and  blows  were 
constantly  occurring  that  week.  The  Twenty-ninth 
Regiment,  according  to  Hutchinson,  contained  a 
number  of.  rough  and  ill-disciplined  fellows,  and  as 
their  quarters  were  very  near  Mr.  John  Gray's  rope- 
walk,  they  came  into  frequent  collision  with  the 
workmen. 

On  Friday  things  assumed  a  decidedly  warlike 
aspect.  About  noon  a  soldier  put  his  head  into 
one  of  the  windows  of  the  ropewalk,  and  gave 
vent  to  his  spleen  in  oaths  and  taunts,  until  pres 
ently  a  workman  came  out  and  knocked  him  down, 
while  another  took  away  his  sword.  The  soldier 
then  went  to  the  barracks  and  returned  with  a  dozen 
companions  armed  with  clubs.  A  fight  ensued,  in 
which  the  soldiers  were  worsted,  and  beat  a  retreat. 
Presently  they  returned  again,  reenforced  to  *  the 
number  of  thirty  or  forty;  but  all  hands  in  the 
ropewalk  were  now  ready  to  receive  them,  and  they 
were  again  beaten  off  with  bruises  and  scars.  Cut 
lasses  were  used,  and  some  blood  was  drawn,  though 
no  one  was  seriously  hurt.  On  Saturday,  Colonel 
Carr,  commander  of  the  Twenty-ninth,  complained 
to  Governor  Hutchinson;  and  on  Monday  the  com 
plaint  was  laid  before  the  Council,  and  several  mem- 


THE     ADDRESS.  75 

bers  of  that  body  declared  their  opinion  that  the 
only  way  of  insuring  against  a  deadly  affray  was 
to  withdraw  the  two  regiments  from  the  town  to 
the  Castle.  In  the  afternoon  a  hand-bill  was  posted 
by  the  soldiers,  informing  the  rebellious  people  of 
Boston  that  they  were  determined  to  join  together 
and  defend  themselves  against  all  opponents.  There 
was  some  anxiety  among  the  citizens,  and  people 
gathered  in  groups  on  street-corners,  discussing  the 
situation.  The  loud  and  angry  threats  of  the  soldiers 
led  many  to  believe  that  a  massacre  was  intended. 
It  was  time,  they  said,  to  wet  their  bayonets  in  the 
blood  of  these  New  England  people.  At  about  eight 
in  the  evening,  a  crowd  collected  near  the  barracks 
in  Brattle  street.  Conspicuous  among  the  throng 
was  a  very  tall  colored  man,  who  seemed  to  be 
acting  as  a  leader.  From  bandying  abusive  epithets 
with  the  soldiers,  the  crowd  went  on  to  pelt  them 
with  snowballs,  while,  in  turn,  blows  were  dealt  with 
the  butt-ends  of  muskets.  Presently,  Captain  Gold 
finch  coming  along,  ordered  his  men  into  their 
barracks  for  the  night,  and  thus  seemed  to  have 
stopped  the  affray.  But  meanwhile  some  one  had 
got  into  the  Old  Brick  Meeting-house,  opposite 
the  head  of  King  street,  —  where  the  Sears  Building 
now  stands  —  and  rung  the  bell;  and  this,  being 
interpreted  as  an  alarm  of  fire,  brought  out  many 
more  people  into  the  moonlit  streets.  It  was  now 
a  little  past  nine  o'clock.  Bands  of  soldiers  and  of 
citizens  were  hurrying  hither  and  thither,  and  the 
accounts  of  what  happened  are  as  disorderly  and 


76  THE     ATTUCKS    MEMORIAL. 

conflicting  as  the  incidents  which  they  try  to  relate. 
There  were  cries  of  "  Town-born,  turn  out !  the  red 
coats  are  going  to  kill  us ! "  and  responses  from 
the  soldiers,  "  Damn  you,  we  will  walk  a  lane 
through  you  all ! "  Between  the  limits  of  what  are 
now  known  as  Dock  square  and  School  street  in  the 
one  direction,  and  Scollay  square  and  Long  wharf  in 
the  other,  there  was  the  surging  of  the  crowd, — 
not  a  vast  and  continuous  crowd,  but  a  series  of 
groups  of  enraged  men,  gesticulating  and  cursing, 
actuated  by  no  definite  plan,  but  simply  giving  inco 
herent  utterance  to  the  passions  which  had  been 
so  long  restrained,  and  were  at  last  wrought  up 
beyond  endurance. 

In  Dock  square,  "a  tall  gentleman  in  a  large  white 
wig  and  red  cloak  "  harangued  the  crowd  for  a  few 
minutes,  and  they  listened  quietly  while  he  was 
speaking.  Who  this  mysterious  person  was,  or 
what  he  said,  has  never  been  ascertained.  Presently 
there  was  a  shout  of  rt  Hurrah  for  the  main  guard ! 
there  is  the  nest ! "  and  the  crowd  began  pouring 
into  King  street,  through  Exchange  lane,  while  the 
tall  colored  man,  whose  name  was  Crispus  Attucks, 
led  a  party  in  the  same  direction  through  the  lower 
part  of  Cornhill,  now  included  in  Washington  street. 

In  front  of  the  Custom  House,  on  the  corner  of 
King  street  and  Exchange  lane,  a  sentinel  was  pac 
ing.  A  few  minutes  before,  as  Captain  Goldfinch 
passed  by  on  his  way  to  stop  the  affray  in  Brattle 
street,  a  barber's  apprentice  had  reviled  him  for 
having  had  his  hair  dressed  and  gone  off  without 


THE     ADDRESS.  77 

paying.  The  sentinel  knocked  the  boy  down,  and 
was  forthwith  pelted  with  snowballs  by  other  boys. 
While  this  was  going  on,  the  crowd  from  Dock  square 
arrived  upon  the  scene,  and  the  sentinel  retreated  up 
the  steps  of  the  Custom  House,  and  called  for  help. 
Some  one  ran  to  the  guard-house  and  cried,  f  They 
are  killing  the  sentinel ;  turn  out  the  guard !  "  Captain 
Preston  and  seven  or  eight  privates  from  the  Twenty- 
ninth  came  up  the  street  upon  the  double-quick,  prod 
ding  people  with  their  bayonets  and  shouting,  "  Make 
way,  damn  you,  make  way ! "  — "  Are  you  going  to 
murder  people?"  asked  a  sailor.  r  Yes,  by  God! 
root  and  branch,"  was  the  reply.  As  the  soldiers 
formed  in  a  half-circle  around  the  sentry-box,  and 
Preston  ordered  them  to  prime  and  load,  the  book 
seller  Henry  Knox,  afterward  major-general  in  the 
Continental  Army,  seized  the  captain  by  the  coat,  and 
warned  him  that  if  blood  was  shed  he  would  have  to 
answer  for  it  with  his  life.  "  I  know  it,"  said  Preston. 
K I  hope,"  said  another  gentleman,  "  you  do  not  in 
tend  to  fire  on  the  people."  — "  By  no  means,"  said 
Preston.  The  crowd  pressed  up  to  the  muzzles  of 
the  guns,  threw  snow  in  the  soldiers'  faces,  and  dared 
them  to  fire.  Amid  the  clamor  and  scurry  there 
were  so  many  cries  of  "  Fire ! "  that  it  would  not 
have  been  strange  had  some  one  of  them  been  mis 
taken  for  an  order.  It  is  most  likely  that  no  such 
order  was  given  by  Preston;  but  all  at  once  seven  of 
the  levelled  pieces  were  discharged,  not  simultaneously, 
but  in  quick  succession  like  the  striking  of  a  clock. 
The  first  shot,  fired  by  a  soldier  named  Montgomery, 


78  THE     ATTUCKS     MEMORIAL. 

killed  Crispus  Attucks,  who  was  standing  quietly  at  a 
little  distance  leaning  upon  a  stick.  The  second,  fired 
by  one  Kilroy,  slew  Samuel  Gray,  who  was  just  step 
ping  toward  the  fallen  Attucks.  The  next  killed  James 
Caldwell,  a  sailor,  standing  in  the  middle  of  the  street. 
Samuel  Maverick,  a  boy  of  seventeen,  and  Patrick 
Carr  had  heard  the  church-bell,  and  come  out  to  see 
where  the  fire  was.  They  were  shot  and  mortally 
wounded  as  they  were  crossing  the  street.  Maverick 
died  next  morning,  Carr  nine  days  later.  Six  other 
men  fell,  dangerously,  but  not  fatally,  wounded. 

The  church-bells  now  began  pealing,  the  alarm  was 
spread  through  the  town,  people  flocked  by  hundreds 
to  the  scene,  the  drums  beat  to  arms,  the  Twenty- 
ninth  Regiment  was  called  out  and  drawn  up  for 
platoon-firing,  and  a  general  slaughter  seemed  immi 
nent,  when  the  arrival  of  Hutchinson  put  an  end  to 
the  tumult.  The  scholarly  lieutenant-governor,  in  his 
study  in  North  square,  had  heard  the  bells,  and  sup 
posed  there  was  a  fire  somewhere;  but  soon  there 
came  knocks  at  his  front  door,  and  flurried  and  breath 
less  cries  that  "the  troops  had  risen  on  the  people." 
Making  all  haste  to  King  street,  he  shouted  indig 
nantly  to  Preston,  "Are  you  the  commanding  officer?" 
— "  Yes,  sir."  —  "  What  do  you  mean  by  firing  on  the 
people  without  an  order  from  a  civil  magistrate."  All 
that  could  be  heard  of  Preston's  reply  was  something 
about  saving  the  sentry.  A  sudden  surge  of  the 
crowd  pushed  Hutchinson  in  through  the  door  of  the 
Town  House.  He  ran  up-stairs  into  the  Council 
Chamber  and  came  out  on  the  balcony.  In  spite  of 


THE    ADDRESS.  79 

his  Tory  sympathies,  his  lofty  character  and  the 
memory  of  his  splendid  public  services  still  gave  him 
much  weight  with  the  people,  and  they  listened  quietly 
as  he  addressed  them.  A  court  of  inquiry  was  ordered, 
the  soldiers  were  sent  to  their  barracks,  Preston  and 
his  squad  were  arrested,  the  people  slowly  dispersed 
to  their  homes,  and  it  was  three  o'clock  in  the  morn 
ing  before  Hutchinson  left  the  scene. 

In  the  forenoon  the  Council  advised  the  removal 
of  the  offending  regiment,  —  the  Twenty-ninth,  —  but 
in  the  afternoon  an  immense  town-meeting,  called  at 
Faneuil  Hall,  adjourned  to  the  Old  South  Meeting 
house;  and  as  they  passed  by  the  Town  House,  the 
lieutenant-governor,  looking  out  upon  their  march, 
judged  "  their  spirit  to  be  as  high  as  was  the  spirit  of 
their  ancestors  when  they  imprisoned  Andros,  while 
they  were  four  times  as  numerous."  All  the  way  from 
the  church  to  the  Town  House  the  street  was  crowded 
with  the  people,  while  a  committee,  headed  by  Samuel 
Adams,  waited  upon  the  lieutenant-governor,  and  re 
ceived  his  assurance  that  the  Twenty-ninth  Regiment 
should  be  removed.  As  the  committee  came  out  from 
the  Town  House  to  carry  the  lieutenant-governor's 
reply  to  the  meeting  in  the  church,  the  people  pressed 
.back  on  either  side  to  let  them  pass;  and  Adams,  lead 
ing  the  way  with  uncovered  head  through  the  lane 
thus  formed,  and  bowing  first  to  one  side  and  then  to 
the  other,  passed  along  the  watchword  "  Both  regi 
ments  or  none ! "  When,  in  the  church,  the  question 
was  put  to  vote,  three  thousand  voices  shouted,  "Both 
regiments  or  none ! "  and  armed  with  this  ultimatum 


80  THE     ATTUCKS     MEMORIAL. 

the  committee  returned  to  the  Town  House,  where 
the  lieutenant-governor  was  seated  with  Colonel  Dal- 
rymple  and  the  members  of  the  Council.  Then  Adams, 
in  quiet  but  earnest  tones,  stretching1  forth  his  arm 
and  pointing  his  finger  at  Hutchinson,  reminded  him 
that  if,  as  royal  governor  of  the  province,  he  had  the 
power  to  remove  one  regiment,  he  had  equally  the 
power  to  remove  both;  that  the  voice  of  three  thou 
sand  freemen  demanded  that  all  soldiery  be  forth 
with  removed  from  the  town;  and  that  if  he  failed 
to  heed  their  just  demands,  he  did  so  at  his  peril. 
"  I  observed  his  knees  to  tremble,"  said  the  old  hero 
afterward,  "  I  saw  his  face  grow  pale,  and  I  enjoyed 
the  sight ! "  Before  sundown  the  order  had  gone 
forth  for  the  removal  of  both  regiments  to  Castle 
William,  and  not  until  then  did  the  meeting  in  the 
church  break  up. 

It  has  often  been  remarked  that  this  scene  in 
the  Council  Chamber  would  make  a  fine  subject  for 
an  historical  painting.  This  removal  of  the  instruments 
of  tyranny  at  the  behest  of  a  New  England  town- 
meeting  was  certainly  one  of  the  most  impressive 
scenes  in  history,  and  it  summed  up  the  coming 
Revolution  as  an  overture  sums  up  the  musical  drama 
to  which  it  is  prefixed.  It  was  four  years  before 
British  troops  were  again  quartered  in  Boston;  and 
on  the  sixth  anniversary  of  the  memorable  scene  in 
the  Council  Chamber,  General  Howe  looked  with  rue 
ful  gaze  at  Washington's  threatening  batteries  on 
Dorchester  Heights,  and  decided  that  it  was  high 
time  to  retreat  from  the  town.  When  the  news  of 


THE     ADDRESS.    .  81 

the  affray  in  King  street,  and  the  consequent  removal 
of  the  troops,  reached  England,  the  king's  friends 
were  chagrined,  and  there  was  some  discussion  in 
Parliament  as  to  whether  it  would  do  to  submit 
tamely  to  such  a  defeat.  It  was  suggested  that  the 
troops  ought  to  be  ordered  back  into  the  town,  when 
Colonel  Barre  pithily  asked,  "If,  under  the  circum 
stances,  the  commanders  over  there  saw  fit  to  remove 
the  troops,  what  minister  here  will  venture  to  order 
them  back? "  As  nobody  was  ready  with  a  reply 
to  this  question,  the  subject  was  dropped;  but  for 
many  years  afterwards  the  Fourteenth  and  Twenty- 
ninth  Regiments  were  familiarly  known  in  Parliament 
as  l?  The  Sam  Adams  Regiments." 

It  was  the  sacrifice  of  the  lives  of  Crispus  Attucks, 
Samuel  Gray,  James  Caldwell,  Samuel  Maverick,  and 
Patrick  Carr  that  brought  about  this  preliminary 
victory  of  the  American  Revolution.  Their  death 
effected  in  a  moment  what  seventeen  months  of 
petition  and  discussion  had  failed  to  accomplish. 
Instead  of  the  king's  representatives  intimidating  the 
people  of  Boston,  it  was  the  people  of  Boston  that 
had  intimidated  the  king's  representatives.  Mature 
is  apt  to  demand  some  forfeit  in  accomplishing 
great  results,  and  for  achieving  this  particular  result 
the  lives  of  those  five  men  were  the  forfeit.  It  is, 
therefore,  historically  correct  to  regard  them  as  the 
first  martyrs  to  the  cause  of  American  independence; 
as  such  they  have  long  deserved  a  monument  in  the 
most  honorable  place  that  Boston  could  give  for  the 
purpose;  and  such  a  place  is  Boston  Common.  If 


82  THE     ATTUCKS     MEMORIAL. 

experience  did  not  teach  us  how  full  the  world  is 
of  paradox  and  looseness  of  thought,  I  should  deem 
it  incredible  that  any  student  of  history  should  ever 
have  doubted  so  plain  and  obvious  a  conclusion. 
The  present  generation  of  historical  students  is  very 
creditably  engaged  in  attempts  to  do  justice  to  the 
motives  of  the  Tories  of  the  Revolution,  who  have, 
in  many  instances,  been  maligned  and  misunderstood. 
Such  attempts  deserve  our  warmest  sympathy,  for  it 
is  the  duty  of  the  historian  to  understand  the  past, 
and  only  in  so  far  as  he  divests  himself  of  partisan 
prejudice  can  he  understand  it.  But  in  order  to  be 
fair  toward  Tories,  it  is  not  necessary  to  become 
Tories  ourselves.  We  seem  to  be  in  some  danger 
of  forgetting  this  obvious  caution.  Some  of  our 
scholars  seem  to  have  swung  around  into  the  Tory 
view  of  the  events  which  ushered  in  the  Revolution, 
and  things  have  been  said  about  the  Boston  Massacre 
which  one  would  think  fit  to  make  glorious  old 
Samuel  Adams  turn  in  his  grave.  The  motives  and 
purposes  of  the  victims  have  been  belittled  or  as 
persed.  In  truth,  we  know  little  or  nothing  about 
their  motives  and  purposes;  but  we  may  fairly  sup 
pose  them  to  have  been  actuated  by  the  same  feel 
ings  toward  the  soldiery  that  animated  Adams  and 
Warren  and  the  patriots  of  Boston  in  general.  The 
five  victims  were  obscure  men.  As  we  have  lately 
been  reminded,  they  did  not  belong  to  our  "first 
families."  This,  however,  did  not  prevent  Doctor 
Warren  from  calling  them  "our  slaughtered  brethren," 
and  I  do  not  suppose  anybody  that  heard  this  phrase 


THE     ADDRESS.  83 

from  the  lips  of  that  high-minded  patriot  would  have 
attributed  it  to  a  seeking  after  political  effect.  The 
immense  concourse  of  people,  including  our  "  first 
families,''  that  followed  them  on  the  8th  of  March  to 
their  grave  in  the  Old  Granary  Burying-ground,  unques 
tionably  regarded  them  as  victims  who  had  suffered  in 
the  common  cause.  Of  their  personal  history  next  to 
nothing  is  known.  Three  of  them  —  Caldwell,  Carr, 
and  Maverick  —  would  seem  to  have  been  by-standers 
accidentally  shot.  Of  the  two  who  took  a  prominent 
part  in  the  affair,  Gray  was  one  of  the  workmen 
at  the  ropewalk;  Attucks  was  a  stranger  in  Boston. 
He  was  a  sailor  employed  on  Captain  Folger's 
whaleship  from  Nantucket,  which  was  lying  in  Boston 
harbor.  He  was  described  as  a  mulatto,  and  may 
very  probably  have  been  the  slave  Crispus,  six  feet 
two  inches  in  height,  who  ran  away  from  his  master, 
AVilliam  Browne,  of  Framingham,  in  the  fall  of  1750, 
and  was  duly  advertised  in  the  "Boston  Gazette" 
of  November  20,  in  that  year.  If  that  be  the  case, 
he  was  about  forty-six  years  old  at  the  time  of  his 
death.  It  has  also  been  argued  that  he  may  have 
been  a  Natick  Indian,  since  the  name  Attucks  is 
certainly  an  Indian  name  signifying  "  deer."  Quite 
likely  he  had  both  Indian  and  African  blood  in  his 
veins;  such  a  thing  was  not  unusual  in  the  country 
about  Framingham.  At  the  time  of  his  death  his 
home  is  said  to  have  been  in  the  Island  of  Nassau, 
and  he  was  apparently  embarked  for  North  Carolina, 
working  his  way,  perhaps,  towards  his  home.  From 
this  time  until  independence  was  won,  there  was 


84  THE     ATTUCKS     MEMORIAL. 

hardly   a    struggle    in    which    brave    men    of    his   race 
and    color  did   not  nobly  acquit  themselves. 

Such  was  the  famous  "Boston  Massacre."  The 
excellent  British  historian,  Mr.  Lecky,  observes  that 
"there  are  many  dreadful  massacres  recorded  in  the 
pages  of  history,  —  the  massacre  of  the  Danes  by  the 
Saxons,  the  Massacre  of  the  Sicilian  Yespers,  the  Mas 
sacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  —  but  it  may  be  questioned 
whether  any  of  them  produced  such  torrents  of  indig 
nant  eloquence  as  this  affair."  (Hist.  Eng.  III.,  367.) 
In  commenting  upon  the  very  gentle  sarcasm  here 
implied,  I  would  remind  Mr.  Lecky  that  it  will  not 
do  to  try  to  measure  history  with  a  foot-rule. 
Lord  Sherbrooke  —  better  known  as  Robert  Lowe 
—  declared  a  few  years  ago,  in  a  speech  on  the 
uses  of  a  classical  education,  that  the  Battle  of  Mar 
athon  was  really  of  less  account  than  a  modern 
colliery-explosion,  because  only  one  hundred  and 
ninety-two  of  the  Greek  army  lost  their  lives. 
From  such  a  point  of  view,  one  might  argue  that 
the  "  Boston  Massacre "  was  an  event  of  far  less  im 
portance  than  an  ordinary  free  fight  among  Colorado 
gamblers.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  this  is  not  the 
historical  point  of  view.  Historically,  the  "Boston 
Massacre"  is  not  only  important  from  the  fresh 
impetus  it  gave  to  the  nascent  revolutionary  feeling 
among  the  Americans  at  that  time,  but  it  furnishes 
an  instructive  illustration  of  the  high  state  of  civil 
ization  that  had  been  attained  by  the  people  among 
whom  it  happened,  —  by  the  oppressors  as  well  as 
those  whom  it  was  sought  to  oppress.  The'  quar- 


THE     ADDRESS.  85 

tering  of  troops  in  a  peaceful  town  is  something 
that  has  in  most  ages  been  regarded  with  horror. 
Under  the  senatorial  government  of  Rome,  it  used 
to  be  said  that  the  quartering  of  troops,  even  upon 
a  friendly  province  and  for  the  purpose  of  protecting 
it,  was  a  visitation  only  less  to  be  dreaded  than  an 
inroad  of  hostile  barbarians.  When  we  reflect  that 
the  British  regiments  were  encamped  in  Boston  dur 
ing  seventeen  months,  among  a  population  to  whom 
they  were  thoroughly  odious,  the  fact  that  only  half 
a  dozen  persons  lost  their  lives,  and  that  otherwise 
no  really  grave  crimes  seem  to  have  been  committed, 
is  a  fact  highly  creditable  both  to  the  discipline  of 
the  soldiers  and  to  the  moderation  of  the  people. 
In  most  ages  and  countries  the  shooting  of  half  a 
dozen  citizens  under  such  circumstances  would  either 
have  produced  but  a  slight  impression,  or,  on  the 
other  hand,  would  perhaps  have  resulted  on  the  spot 
in  a  wholesale  slaughter  of  the  offending  soldiers. 
The  fact  that  so  profound  an  impression  was  made 
in  Boston  and  throughout  the  country,  while  at  the 
same  time  the  guilty  parties  were  left  to  be  dealt 
with  in  the  ordinary  course  of  law,  is  a  striking 
commentary  upon  the  general  peacefulness  and  de 
corum  of  American  life;  and  it  shows  how  high  and 
severe  was  the  standard  by  which  our  forefathers 
judged  all  lawless  proceedings.  •  And  here  it  may 
not  be  irrelevant  to  add  that,  throughout  the  con 
stitutional  struggles  which  led  to  the  Revolution,  the 
American  standard  of  political  right  and  wrong  was 
so  high  that  contemporary  European  politicians  found 


86  THE     ATTUCKS     MEMORIAL. 

it  sometimes  difficult  to  understand  it.  And  for  a 
like  reason,  even  the  most  fair-minded  modern 
English  historians  sometimes  fail  to  see  why  the 
Americans  should  have  been  so  quick  to  take  offence 
at  acts  of  the  British  Government  which  doubtless 
were  not  meant  to  be  oppressive.  If  George  III. 
had  been  a  bloodthirsty  despot,  like  Philip  II.,  of 
Spain;  if  General  Gage  had  been  like  the  Duke  of 
Alva;  if  American  citizens  by  the  hundred  had  been 
burned  alive  or  broken  on  the  wheel  in  New  York 
and  Boston;  if  towns  such  as  Providence  and  Hart 
ford  had  been  given  up  to  the  cruelty  and  lust  of 
a  beastly  soldiery,  —  then  no  one  would  ever  have 
found  it  hard  to  understand  why  the  Americans 
should  have  exhibited  a  rebellious  temper.  But  it  is 
one  signal  characteristic  of  the  progress  of  political 
civilization,  that  the  part  played  by  sheer  brute  force 
in  a  barbarous  age  is  fully  equalled  by  the  part 
played  by  a  mere  covert  threat  of  injustice  in  a 
more  advanced  age.  The  effect  which  a  blow  in  the 
face  would  produce  upon  a  barbarian  will  be  wrought 
upon  a  civilized  man  by  an  assertion  of  some  far- 
reaching  legal  principle,  which  only  in  a  subtle  and 
ultimate  analysis  includes  the  possibility  of  a  blow 
in  the  face.  From  this  point  of  view,  the  quickness 
with  which  such  acts  as  those  of  Charles  Townshend 
were  comprehended  in  their  remotest  bearings  is  the 
most  striking  proof  one  could  wish  of  the  high 
grade  of  political  culture  which  our  forefathers  had 
reached  through  their  system  of  perpetual  free 
discussion  in  town-meeting.  They  had,  moreover, 


THE     ADDRESS.  87 

reached  a  point  where  any  manifestation  of  simple 
brute  force  in  the  course  of  a  political  dispute  was 
exceedingly  disgusting  and  shocking  to  them.  To 
their  minds  the  careless  or  wanton  slaughter  of  five 
citizens  conveyed  just  as  much  meaning  as  a  St. 
Bartholomew  massacre  would  have  conveyed  to  the 
minds  of  men  in  a  lower  stage  of  political  develop 
ment. 

It  was  not  strange,  therefore,  that  Samuel  Adams 
and  his  friends  should  have  been  ready  to  make 
the  ?  Boston  Massacre  "  the  occasion  of  a  moral 
lesson  to  their  contemporaries.  As  far  as  the  offend 
ing  soldiers  were  concerned,  they  were  most  honor 
ably  dealt  with.  There  was  no  attempt  to  wreak 
a  paltry  vengeance  on  them.  Brought  to  trial 
on  a  charge  of  murder,  after  a  judicious  delay 
of  seven  months,  they  were  ably  defended  by  John 
Adams  and  Josiah  Quincy,  and  all  were  acquitted 
save  Montgomery  and  Kilroy,  who  were  convicted  of 
manslaughter,  and  branded  in  the  hand.  There  were 
some  hot-heads  who  grumbled  at  the  verdict,  but  the 
people  of  Boston  generally  acquiesced  in  it,  as  they 
showed  by  choosing  John  Adams  for  their  representa 
tive  in  the  Assembly.  At  the  same  time,  such  an 
event  as  the  'r?  Boston  Massacre "  could  not  fail  for  a 
long  time  to  point  a  moral  among  a  people  so  unused 
to  violence  and  bloodshed.  Paul  Revere,  who  was 
one  of  the  earliest  of  American  engravers,  published  a 
quaint  colored  engraving  of  the  scene  in  King  street, 
which  for  a  long  time  was  widely  circulated,  though 
it  has  now  become  very  scarce.  Below  the  picture 


88  THE     ATTUCKS     MEMORIAL. 

are  the  following  verses,  written  in  the  rhymed  ten- 
syllable  couplets  which  the  eighteenth  century  was  so 
fond  of  turning  out  by  the  yard :  — 

"  Unhappy  Boston  !    see  thy  sons   deplore 

Thy  hallowed  walks   besmeared  with  guiltless   gore, 

While  faithless  P n   and  his   savage  bands 

With  murderous  rancour  stretch  their  bloody  hands, 
Like  fierce  barbarians  gi-inning  o'er  their  prey, 
Approve  the   carnage  and   enjoy  the   day. 

If  scalding  drops  from  rage,   from   anguish,  wrung, 
If  speechless   sorrows  labouring  for  a  tongue, 
Or  if    a  weeping  world  can   aught  appease 
The   plaintive   ghosts  of  victims  such  as  these, 
The  patriot's  copious  tears  for  each  are  shed, 
A   glorious  tribute   which   embalms  the   dead. 

But  know !    Fate  summons  to  that  awful   goal, 
Where  Justice   strips  the   murderer  of   his  soul ; 

Should  venal  c ts,   the   scandal   of  the  land, 

Snatch  the  relentless  villain  from  her  hand, 

Keen  execrations  on  this  plate  inscribed 

Shall  reach  a  Judge  who  never  can  be  bribed." 

These  last  lines  give  expression  to  the  feelings  of 
those  who .  condemned  the  verdict  of  the  court,  and 
they  show  how  intense  was  the  indignation  over  the 
bloodshed  and  the  sympathy  for  the  victims.  The 
self-restraint  shown  by  the  people,  while  under  the 
influence  of  such  feelings,  is  in  the  highest  degree 
creditable  to  Boston;  and  the  moral  lessons  of  the 
story  are  such  as  ought  never  to  be  forgotten. 
Adams  and  Warren,  and  their  patriot  friends,  were 
right  in  deciding  that  the  fatal  5th  of  March  should 


THE     ADDRESS.  89 

be  solemnly  commemorated  each  year  by  an  oration 
to  be  delivered  in  the  Old  South  Meeting-house, 
and  this  custom  was  kept  up  until  the  recognition 
of  American  independence  in  1783,  when  the  day 
for  the  oration  was  changed  to  the  4th  of  July. 
At  the  very  first  annual  March  meeting  after  the 
massacre,  it  was  proposed  to  erect  a  monument  to 
commemorate  it.  The  form  of  the  proposal  shows 
that  the  character  of  the  event  was  understood  by 
town-people  at  that  time  as  I  have  endeavored  to 
set  it  forth  to-day.  In  dedicating  this  memorial  on 
Boston  Common  after  the  lapse  of  more  than  a  cen 
tury,  we  are  but  performing  an  act  of  justice  too 
long  delayed.  There  let  it  stand  for  future  genera 
tions  to  contemplate  as  a  monument  of  the  wickedness 
and  folly  of  all  attempts  to  employ  brute  force  in 
compelling  the  obedience  of  the  people  to  laws  which 
they  have  had  no  voice  in  making. 


LETTERS. 


LET  TEE  S. 


The  Citizens'  Committee  invited  the  Hon.  FREDERICK 
DOUGLASS,  the  distinguished  anti-slavery  orator,  to  make  an 
address  in  Faneuil  Hall  at  the  dedicatory  exercises.  Mr. 
Douglass  wrote  as  follows,  declining  the  invitation :  — 

LETTER    FROM    HOX.    FREDERICK    DOUGLASS. 

CEDAR    HILL,  ANACOSTIA,    D.C.,  Oct.    5,    1888. 
WILLIAM   H.    DUPREE,    B.    R.    WILSON,    E.   M.    CHAMBERLIN  :  — 

GENTLEMEN,  —  Your  respected  letter  informing  me  that  a  monu 
ment  in  commemoration  of  Crispus  Attucks  and  others  who  fell  in 
the  massacre  in  State  street,  March  o,  1770,  will  be  unveiled  by 
the  Commonwealth  at  11  o'clock,  Wednesday,  November  the  14th 
next,  and  also  inviting  me  to  deliver  the  oration  on  that  occasion, 
came  in  my  absence ;  otherwise  you  should  have  had  an  earlier 
answer.  I  exceedingly  regret  that  my  entire  time  and  strength 
from  now  until  the  6th  of  November,  being  pledged  to  the  work 
of  the  National  Republican  Committee,  with  appointments  already 
made,  will  prevent  the  acceptance  of  the  invitation  with  which  you 
have  honored  me.  I  shall  probably  come  out  of  the  campaign,  as 
out  of  previous  ones,  with  little  nervous  force  left  for  immediate 
work  of  any  kind,  —  certainly  not  enough  to  prepare  an  address 
suitable  to  an  occasion  so  historic  and  grand  as  that  proposed 
for  the  14th  of  November. 

I  hardly  need  say  that  I  am  deeply  sensible  of  the  honor 
conferred  upon  me  by  your  invitation,  or  that  I  am  happy  in  the 
thought  that  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  is  about  to  com- 


94  THE     ATTUCKS     MEMORIAL. 

memorate  an  act  of  heroism  on  the  part  of  one  of  a  race  seldom 
credited  with  heroic  qualities.  I  believe  that  Massachusetts  is  first 
in  this  recognition,  as  she  has  been  first  in  much  else  that  is 
noble,  magnanimous,  and  brave.  It  was  Massachusetts  that,  under 
the  lead  of  her  great  war-governor,  John  A.  Andrew,  first  armed 
and  equipped  two  colored  regiments  for  service  against  the  late 
slave-holding  rebellion.  It  was  Massachusetts  that,  in  those  dark 
days,  gave  to  the  Senate  Charles  Surnner  and  Henry  Wilson ;  and 
I  do  not  forget  that  it  was  Massachusetts,  by  her  advanced 
sentiments,  made  it  comparatively  safe  for  me  to  dwell  within  her 
borders  when  a  fugitive,  not  from  justice,  but  from  slavery,  fifty 
years  ago.  The  recollection  of  these  and  other  facts  would  strongly 
incline  me  to  comply  with  your  invitation  but  for  the  impossibility 
already  mentioned.  While,  however,  I  cannot  promise  to  deliver  the 
oration,  I  do  hope  to  be  able  to  be  present  as  an  interested  spec 
tator  of  the  ceremony  of  unveiling  the  proposed  monument  on  the 
14th  of  November  next,  and  to  listen  to  the  oration  in  old  Faneuil 
Hall,  upon  whose  platform,  in  other  days,  the  grandest  words  for 
freedom  and  patriotism  found  utterance,  and  have  since  gotten 
themselves  incorporated  in  the  laws,  and  measurably  in  the  life,  of 
the  American  people.  It  is  meet  that  your  grand  old  Common 
wealth  should  take  the  lead  in  honoring  the  memory  of  patriots 
and  heroes,  of  whatever  race  and  color.  She  has  this  right  by 
reason  of  eminent  fitness.  The  tide  of  her  civilization  has  alone 
risen  to  the  level  of  this  commemoration.  Colored  men  fought 
with  Perry  on  Lake  Erie.  Colored  men  fought  at  Red  Bank  in  the 
Revolution.  Colored  men  fought,  and  fought  bravely,  at  New  Orleans, 
under  General  Jackson,  But  no  monument  commemorates  their 
services.  I  do  not  doubt,  however,  that  the  time  will  come  when 
the  colored  man  will  have  the  same  measure  of  justice  accorded  to 
him  by  others  that  Massachusetts  now  accords  to  Crispus  Attucks, 
the  hero  of  the  State-street  massacre  in  1770. 

Looking  upon  the  magnificent  monument  erected  in  the  city  of 
Paris  to  the  memory  of  Alexander  Dumas,  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
literary  men  of  the  whole  constellation  of  French  writers,  I  could 
not  but  credit  Frenchmen  with  a  higher  degree  of  justice  and  im- 


LETTERS.  95 

partiality  to  colored  men  than  had  yet  been  attained  by  my  own 
countrymen.  But  when  the  monument  to  Crispus  Attacks  takes 
its  place  in  Boston,  this  unfavorable  comparison  can  no  longer  be 
made.  In  common  with  millions  of  my  colored  brethren  all  over 
our  land,  I  rejoice  and  am  exceeding  glad  that  Boston  is  to  have 
among  her  many  other  distinctions  this  noble  concession  to  justice 
and  patriotism  in  the  person  of  one  of  a  hitherto  disparaged  and 

despised  people. 

Very   truly   yours, 

FIJEDERICK   DOUGLASS. 


LETTER    FROM    DR.    HENRY    I.    BOWDITCH. 

NOVEMBER    14,    1888. 
MR.    BUTLER   R.    WILSON  :  — 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  had  received  an  official  notice  from  the  authori 
ties  at  the  State  House,  and  an  invitation  to  be  present  at  the 
unveiling  of  the  monument  erected  by  the  State  to  the  martyrs 
to  liberty,  who  fell  in  State  street,  March  5,  1770. 

Your  kind  letter  received  last  evening  induces  me  to  say  to  you 
that  nothing  but  the  present  state  of  my  health  prevents  me  from 
accepting  the  invitation. 

The  two  historical  societies  who  have  their  headquarters  in  Bos 
ton  have,  by  their  committees,  protested  against  the  erection  of  a 
monument  to  commemorate  a  "  mod,"  as  they  call  the  event  in 
State  street,  and  the  just  (as  these  historical  gentlemen  would  say) 
death  of  "rioters."  That  "mob"  was,  according  to  Daniel  Webster, 
the  commencement  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution.  I  cannot  see 
why  we  should  have  our  "Minute  Man"  at  Lexington,  or  our 
monuments  at  Concord  and  Bunker  Hill,  if  this  first  clash  of  arms 
in  State  street  —  which  some  of  the  most  prominent  of  the  patriots 
of  the  Revolution  celebrated  year  after  year  —  cannot  be  justly 
commemorated . 

Wishing    you    complete    success,    I    remain, 
Yours    faithfully, 

IIKNRY   I.    BOWDITCH. 


9(3  THE     ATTUCKS     MEMOKIAL. 


LETTER   FROM   REV.    PHILLIPS   BROOKS,    D.D. 

223    CLARENDON    STREET, 

BOSTON,    Nov.    .r>,    1888. 
BUTLER   R.    WILSON,  ESQ.  :  — 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  I  thank  the  committee  for  their  invitation,  and 
I  should  be  very  glad  to  do  the  duty  which  they  ask  of  me,  if 
it  were  possible.  But  I  am  very  sorry  to  say  that  I  cannot  be 
at  Faneuil  Hall  at  the  hour  appointed  for  the  dedication 
exercises. 

I   must  therefore    beg   you    to    excuse    me,    and    believe    me, 

Yours    sincerely, 

PHILLIPS     BROOKS. 


LETTER   FROM    REV.    DAVID    GREGG,    D.D. 

PARK   STREET    CHURCH, 
BOSTON,    MASS.,    Nov.    5,    1888. 
MR.    BUTLER    R.    WILSON  :  — 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  have  an  engagement  in  New  York  City  for 
November  14,  —  a  wedding.  Were  it  not  for  this  I  would  gladly 
comply  with  the  request  to  close  the  Faneuil  Hall  exercises  of 
that  date  with  prayer.  I  would  esteem  it  a  great  honor  to  be 
present  at  the  dedication  of  the  monument  to  Crispus  Attucks. 

Sincerely, 

DAVID     GREGG. 


LETTER   FROM   HON.    JOHN   M.    LANGSTON. 

PETERSBURG,    VA.,    Nov.    12,    1888. 

HON.    OLIVER   AMES,    and   others.    Committee,  etc..  Boston,    Mass.:  — 

GENTLEMEN,  —  I    have   the    honor   to    acknowledge   the    receipt    of 

your   invitation   to   attend   the   dedication,    on   the  14th   inst.,  of  the 

monument   erected   by   your   State    to    Attucks,    Maverick,    Caldwell, 


LETTERS.  97 

Gray,  and  Carr.  It  would  give  me  great  pleasure  to  be  present 
on  such  occasion.  Thus,  while  I  honored  the  heroic  dead,  I 
might  have  my  soul  inspired  to  new,  earnest  duty  in  behalf  of  the 
country  and  race,  to  promote  whose  interests  and  welfare  they  died. 
Pressing  duties,  however,  detain  me  at  home,  and  I  am  only  able 
to  tender  you  my  thanks  for  the  great  service  which  the  old 
Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  does  humanity,  —  especially  the 
negro  race,  —  in  the  erection  of  a  monument  which  shall  tell  to 
posterity  how  nobly  these,  her  black  revolutionary  sons,  among 
the  very  first  to  fall,  March  5,  1770,  to  consecrate  and  make 
possible  our  national  independence  and  free  institutions,  demeaned 
themselves  in  the  face  of  danger  and  in  the  midst  of  fiery 
struggle. 

Most   respectfully   and   sincerely   yours, 

JOHN     MERCER     LANGSTON. 


V 


